Scratch the Matchmaker

by Austin Daniels

  Logan was someone I could always depend on. I didn't often ask him for favors; I always knew if I did he'd do whatever he could to help me out. I needed to remember what a good friend he was and resolve my dog issues soon. I didn't want him to ever think I'd been using him.

  Logan was sensitive about being used. And I didn't want to be the user. He was sensitive about a lot of things. He was, and had always been, overweight. He was especially thin-skinned about it. I really didn't understand that because, in our age group, it wasn't uncommon. We were once talking about it and he told me that while our age group was often chunky, he thought the heavy guys were mostly straight. If Logan overate, I never really saw it. I wondered sometimes if his weight kept his activity level down. It was a sore subject, so I didn't talk about it.

  I was careful not to ask too much of him. We were all willing to do whatever we could to shore up each other's hearts when needed. I knew if I had a problem with some guy, Logan and the boys would hate him for me. Similarly, any guy who hurt Logan became the slime of the earth to us. Sharing enemies seemed to be one of the covenants of our little group.

  Chapter Eight

  Logan

  When Jay and Richard left, I was still laughing so hard I forgot to ask them if they'd walked Scratch yet. Having white carpet throughout my apartment made me sensitive to what I could be dealing with if Scratch had an accident. I didn't dare just bring him in for a few hours. After Jay and Richard drove off, I walked Scratch over to the park at the end of the block.

  When we got there, I started walking around the sidewalk which winds around the perimeter of the park, and everything was going fine until we got around to the other side. Scratch stopped to pee and at first I didn't notice. I just kept walking and the leash pealed the collar off his little head. I turned around to see him finishing up, the collar and loose leash sliding toward me. Then he looked up at me and looked across the park and took off running.

  For a few seconds, I just froze. I was mortified. I'd been in charge of Scratch for less than ten minutes and he was loose in the park. Scratch barely knows me. How am I ever going to catch him? I thought. I ran after him, which with my weight is not an easy thing to do. My run was more like a jog. Running was a bit of an embarrassment for me. The harder I ran, the more my body jiggled. I didn't have the self confidence that Jay did. I embarrassed easily, and beyond Jay and the guys, I was a little on the shy side.

  I could see Scratch had stopped up ahead and was approaching someone. The man he was investigating stopped and knelt to pet him and then picked him up. I was waving and he saw me and started walking toward me carrying Scratch. In another thirty seconds, we reached each other. I reached over to take Scratch from his arms and we touched. Realizing I was almost holding the guy's hand with Scratch's fur tangled in between, I pulled away, looking up into the man's smiling face as I did. Scratch turned his face toward me with his tongue hanging out in a sort of smiling pant. I was so grateful to have him back; I hugged the guy, thanking him over and over.

  Realizing I'd overstepped my bounds, I jumped back. Sometimes I just forget guys don't all hug. I could see the surprised but happy look on his face. It was only then that I got a really good look at him. He was tall, with very dark hair. Keep in mind that everyone seems tall to me. He must have been over six feet anyway. For a man walking in the park, he was dressed uncommonly well. His skin was darker than mine, but then again, whose wasn't. Tanned in the Arizona sun, I guessed. He had a broad smile and white teeth. His eyes were deep brown and penetrating. I thought he was just about the sexiest, most beautiful man I'd ever laid eyes on.

  I just hugged that, I thought to myself.

  "I think I have something that belongs to you," he said. "What's your dog's name?"

  "Oh, thank you, my name's Logan and this is Scratch. He's actually my friend's dog. I'm supposed to be watching him."

  "Well, I'm Finch," he said, taking the leash from me and clipping it onto Scratch's collar. He took the leash in his hand rather than handing it to me. "Well, it looks like Scratch has had his fill of the park." He gently touched my arm. When his fingers touched my flesh, I looked up into his eyes just in time to see that he was already looking into mine. I froze there a second. I couldn't take my attention from him. His finger moved a little bit across the skin on my arm, and I realized we were standing in the park staring into each other's faces, and even though I wasn't sure, I thought my mouth might be open. We must have looked like we were about to kiss.

  Breaking the silence without so much as blinking, Finch said, "Why don't we take this across the street and get some coffee? You can tell me all about Scratch."

  My first go-to response was to thank him and tell him something like, 'Oh, that's not necessary,' but I already knew that wasn't about to happen. "That'd be nice." We turned and began to walk toward the edge of the park to cross the street to the cafe.

  Before I knew it, we were sitting at an outdoor café table. Scratch was sitting on Finch's lap and I was drinking coffee with the most handsome man I'd laid eyes on in recent memory. As we finished our coffee, he reached down and gave Scratch a snuggle behind the ears saying, "Do you have any dinner plans. I've enjoyed meeting you and would like to know you better."

  "No, but I'm dog-sitting and don't know how long I'll be watching him. Why don't you come to my place, and I can cook instead?" He took my contact information and we agreed that seven o'clock would be fine. I expected Jay to be earlier than that so a late dinner seemed wise.

  Then he took out a card from his wallet and handed it to me. Looking down, I read, Finch Myers. The card included his address, email address, and telephone number. He hugged me goodbye and I turned to walk away, realizing finally that I'd just made a date with Jay's older brother. The one I knew he hadn't talked to since he was fourteen.

  I had a date for dinner with the prettiest man I could remember having seen, and he just happened to be Jay's brother. I stood there watching him walk away thinking, Now I'm in a hell of a mess.

  It had to be the same Finch Myers. I'd heard countless stories from Jay about the way he'd harassed Jay when they were kids. Jay never had a nice thing to say about him. He hadn't been close to him like he was with his twin, Robin. That alone I could have dealt with, but the thing that bothered me the most was something Jay told me about Finch: "My brother used to pick up the loneliest chubby guys he could find. He'd go out with them a time or two and toss them aside." This beautiful man was coming to my house to eat my food, take advantage of me, and disappear forever. Yet there was a part of me that was willing to take that risk. Knowing up front will make it easier, I thought.

  What was I going to tell Jay? I could get out of this easily by just calling the number on the card and telling him off. On the other hand, something deep inside kept telling me I had a date with the prettiest man I'd ever laid eyes on, and he'd asked me first. While I distrusted his intentions, I was keenly aware that if this went any further than dinner—and I hoped it would—he wouldn't be the only one in the room who was using somebody. Maybe he'd never call me again. If he didn't, I'd never have to tell Jay. I realized I was just rationalizing. I wasn't used to not sharing the stories of my life with Jay.

  There was a piece of me that wanted to be his lamb going to slaughter. There was another piece that knew I could never be an innocent lamb for any man. So the rest of the afternoon I cooked and showered and cleaned up the place and just sort of let Scratch run around the apartment.

  Knowing up front that the man I was entertaining probably just wanted to use me for easy sex was the key to protecting my heart. If Finch was as bad as Jay thought he was, I could be just as evil. I was no lamb. I was a full-grown predator. I wore no blinders. If he threw me under the bus afterwards, he'd be surprised when I got up unscathed.

  Now I needed to work on my mood. If I wasn't going to enjoy this, it wasn't worth doing.

  I called Jay and made arrangements to drop Scratch off. I told him I had something I needed to do and
I didn't want him to show up while we were out. Jay was my best friend so I wanted to tell him that I was having dinner with his brother, but I knew better. The first thing I knew for sure was that Jay wasn't going to make this decision for me. Before I told anyone this story, it had to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Without all the parts, it was just so much drama. I thought it might be better for me to know if I was going to have a victory-over-evil story or an I-was-your-brother's-whore story to tell him. Was there really any difference?

  I'd decided to make an eggplant lasagna casserole. At seven, the eggplant was done and the food was on warm in the oven. The salad was prepared and the wine was breathing. There was a knock at the door, right on time. I opened the door and there he was in all his glory. He'd cleaned up a bit and was standing there holding a bouquet of flowers. I took the flowers, thinking it was the first time anyone had ever given me flowers. I didn't own a vase, but found a large glass that held them. Once the flowers were in water, I offered him a glass of wine and he took it. Then I walked him around the apartment, showing him the place and wishing it was nicer.

  He sipped on the wine and we returned to the living room and sat down. I didn't want to rush dinner, thinking we could talk and have a glass of wine first. I started to tell him the story of Scratch and how he appeared from out of nowhere and how my friend had been on a day-date, being careful to not mention Jay by name.

  "That's interesting. My brother just got a dog," he said. "I haven't seen it yet, but that's the family gossip."

  "Gossip? Who told you about it?" The details of Finch's family were well known to me, but I was curious about who he was talking with

  "What do you mean, 'who'?"

  "Well, you said your family. I was just trying to learn more about them. So do you have a brother?"

  "I have two brothers actually. They're twins. Robin was the one who told me about the dog. He and I have been talking again for a while. The two of them were adopted by some guy years ago, and I lost contact for a long time, but Robin looked me up online and we've been chatting. My brother Jay and I haven't talked for a long time. I was always a little too old to be close to the twins. I guess I had a lot of hidden aggression. When the twins were born I felt like I'd lost my parents. Twins are a lot to handle. I'm afraid I wasn't very nice to either of them."

  As he continued his story, he started to look down at his feet. I could see he was ashamed of this piece of their family history, even before he went on.

  "Jay was especially sensitive. By the time he was ten, I think he hated me. The thing is, my issues with them were over by then, for me at least. I love that guy. He has no idea how proud I am of him. Do you know he headed out on his own at fourteen over a principle? He could have stayed, but he'd have had to hide who he was. Knowing the real Jay wouldn't be welcome by his own mother he left. He had more courage than I did, and I admire him for that."

  Reaching over and lifting his chin with my finger, I looked him in the eye. "Okay, that's kind of sweet. You said a lot of nice things there, so I need to be straight with you about something." Stepping away, I took a couple of steps in one direction and then another, I looked up at the ceiling and down at the floor. Planning on what I was going to say wasn't really helping. I hadn't lied. I'd just withheld information, but I knew better than to think that was really justification. "I just better say it. Jay is a friend of mine. He's my best friend. That was his dog you rescued today." Turning to face him again, I continued. "I was thrilled to meet you today, to be perfectly honest with you, but when I realized you were the same Finch I'd heard Jay speak of it was like a stab to the gut. You're right, he is still upset with you, and he's going to be upset with me when he finds out we were together tonight."

  Finch rose and paced across the room. "You know, this has gone on way too long. I need to have a heart to heart with him. He needs to know he has a brother who cares about him. He's been through so much."

  During our conversation, when he wasn't walking around, Finch was looking at me like he was starving and I was a lamb chop. He'd been sitting in the chair before he got up, while I sat on the couch. After he finished the story and traveled the two steps between us, he sat right next to me. He put his arm around my shoulder and continued. "When our mom put him on the street, I packed my bags and walked. I'd accepted all of her demands about my sexuality just to keep a roof over my head, but not Jay. He had too much character. It shames me to tell you the truth. Robin begged me not to leave him alone with our mom, but I had to get out. I'd have taken Robin with me if I could. By the time I got in a position to care for myself, Robin was already living with Jay in their new home."

  While we were getting into some pretty intimate stuff I realized I still knew little about him. I decided to change the subject, bringing up his dream of owning a restaurant. "You mentioned in the park that you had a goal of one day owning a restaurant. Do you really think you'd like the environment? I mean, have you ever worked in a restaurant before?"

  "I worked in a restaurant with a chef while I was in college. Right now, I'm helping to manage a French restaurant uptown. You've probably heard of it. It's called Vin 286."

  "I've heard of that place, but never eaten there. It's a little pricy for me. When I eat out, I need to move the decimal point, if you know what I mean. You know a restaurant startup could be really expensive. Can you afford something like that?"

  "It's not something I could do tomorrow, but I'm already saving for it. We'll do just fine."

  He said 'we', I thought. As long as he was dropping words like 'we', I thought I'd better get back to family matters.

  I was wresting with the idea of mentioning what Jay had told me about the way he treated guys he used, but after hearing his confession about the way he treated his brothers, I put it off. It didn't seem like a good time to stir the pot. Instead, I took a sip of my wine thinking, Maybe this will make a difference for them. Maybe he's not such a bad guy. After all, people change.

  It wasn't long before I realized I couldn't wait. If what Jay told me was true, it was time for me to get rid of him before I got in any deeper. At the same time I was having misgivings. He leaned toward me, putting his arm around me and pulling me toward him. When I turned my head, he was looking at me again like he had in the park.

  Part of me began to think, This guy is being way too forward for this early in the game. The other part was saying, Jump him right now and that was the part that was winning the argument.

  This is getting crazy, I thought. He's way out of my league. Oddly, I didn't have that thought a second time. By the time I thought 'league,' my thinking was already getting fuzzy. I wasn't sure how far he intended to take this, but there was one thing I was absolutely sure about: he was going to get whatever he wanted. It was entirely up to him. A moment later he ran his hand down my side and then cupped my ass which was no easy chore since I was sitting down. It was electric.

  I had apparently already made my decision. "Let's take this to the bedroom."

  Pulling him down the hallway, we both turned and faced each other when we got to my room. He pulled off his shirt. I stood there speechless. Well, this is it, I thought as I pulled off my shirt. When a man saw me undressed, he had a decision to make. Usually I would see disappointment in their eyes, even if only for a fleeting second, but that didn't happen. When Finch gazed down at my chest and the extra flesh around my waist, I would have thought he was staring at a porn star. He dropped his shorts and kicked them across the room, and a second later was standing before me in all his glory. I followed suit, and seconds later he had tackled me onto the bed. Everything was happening so fast. I'd never felt this kind of passion from anyone.

  His hands were everywhere. He was on top of me and as my legs moved, he slid in between.

  "Do you have any...?"

  "In the drawer," I told him.

  Reaching inside, he pulled out a bottle of lube and a package of condoms. Neither had ever been opened. He struggled a bit until he had both r
eady to use. Turning to me, he had the cutest look of total desperation on his face. I nodded, thinking this stalling was his sudden realization we hadn't discussed this at all.

  He reached down and slicked me up. As he rolled the condom on himself, I realized it was a bit tight on him. Wiping his hand on my sheet, he rolled me back and for the next few minutes he teased me with the promise for more and then it came. We rolled around that bed for what seemed like hours to me. Finally, he pushed deep inside, pulled his head back and with an involuntary growl, he stopped. For the next few seconds I could feel the weight of him as he caught his breath.

  "You're still hard," I said after a minute had passed, and he hadn't pulled out.

  "Round two?" he said with a questioning smile on his face like he already knew the answer.

  We didn't get to eat for hours.

  When we finally did sit at the table, the food was a little dried out. "It would have been a lot better a few hours ago. Are you okay with this?"

  "I'm fine with it. It's delicious."

  We finished dinner and sat together in the living room, finishing off the wine and getting to know one another. Finch turned to me as he finished off the wine in his glass. "Do you have anything you have to do tomorrow?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

  "No, why?"

  "What if I helped you with the dishes and stayed over?"

  "Why don't I soak the casserole pan and we'll finish them in the morning."

  "Do you think Jay is going to be able to handle this?" he asked as we walked up the stairs for the second time.

  "Don't you worry. I'll make him handle it." Even as the words left me I thought, Jay will think he's using me. Somehow, I have to make Jay understand that two can play at that game. So much for the beginning and the middle; I need to know where this story is going before I tell Jay.

  *~*~*

  The next morning, as Finch was on his way out, he turned back to me. "Free for dinner around 5:30? I want to take you to the kind of restaurant I one day hope to open. I graduated with a business degree, but my love is cooking. I just think if I do something I love that belongs to me, I'll be happy. You know what I mean?"