by Ariel Tachna
Like a teenager with a crush he didn’t know how to manage.
Shit. He hadn’t been that kid even when he was a teenager. What was wrong with him now? If he hadn’t known who Barnes was, he wouldn’t have thought twice about pursuing him out onto the dance floor, even after the scene with the drinks. He’d have taken it as flirting, as an invitation to pursuit, not a dismissal. He didn’t take no for an answer, not in business and not in pleasure. He went after what he wanted until he got it. He always had.
Except this time there was more at stake than business or pleasure. This time he had Kit and Phillip to think about. Right now Barnes was helping them in his own way. Maybe it wasn’t the way Thane would have chosen, but Kit’s grades had come up, both boys enjoyed stage crew, and neither of them had mentioned problems with the bullies since they’d started their community service. The four weeks weren’t up, but Thane couldn’t see them stopping at the end of their sentence, not with how much they talked about what they were doing. No, they’d see it to the end this year and probably go back for more next year.
He could live with that. He might not agree with the way Barnes ran things, but Kit and Phillip were happy, so his opinion didn’t matter. As long as working with the stage crew brought smiles to their faces, he would encourage it in any way he could. He just needed to find ways to encourage it that didn’t involve him having to work with Barnes all the time. That would never be anything but awkward.
The vision of red cotton pulled tight over surprisingly buff arms floated through his mind.
Awkward. Because while it was cold enough right now for Barnes to wear sweatshirts when they worked, it would warm up eventually, and when it did, he’d exchange sweatshirts for T-shirts, and Thane would be stuck staring at his arms. Not to mention his ass.
He grabbed another piece of tile, but his fingers slipped on the surface and the edge sliced across his palm. “Fuck,” he cursed as blood welled up. “Jackson, I need someone to finish this tile.”
Derek popped back into the bathroom far too quickly for Thane’s liking. “Changed your mind about going to Henry Clay?”
“No, I’m going to the emergency room. This is going to need stitches. Get someone to finish up in here, or at least to use the thin set I have mixed up so it doesn’t go to waste. If we need to mix up another batch tomorrow, that’s fine.”
Derek looked at Thane’s hand critically. “Can you drive like that? I can have Glenn take you to Central Baptist. He just went to take a smoke break.”
Thane could drive there, but depending on what they gave him for the pain, driving home might be more complicated. “Probably a good idea.”
“Get your gear. I’ll get Glenn. And give me your keys. We’ll get your truck home.”
Thane fished in his tool belt until he found his keys and tossed them to Derek. “Will you tell the boys what’s going on if they get home before I do?”
“Get out of here. I’ll take care of everything, including the boys.”
Thane gave Derek a grateful nod and went in search of his things. Derek might drive him crazy, but he could always rely on him in a pinch.
THANE let himself into his house four hours later. The ER doctor had put six stitches in his palm and given him something strong enough for the pain that he was feeling pretty good right about now.
“Uncle Thane!”
He braced himself at the sound of his name. Kit came barreling into the hallway and threw his arms around Thane’s waist. “Derek said you were hurt. Are you okay?”
“I cut my hand. The doc put some stitches in it. It’ll be okay in a week or so. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to stage crew today.”
“We were worried,” Phillip said, “but I told Kit you’d have a good reason for not being there.”
“Does a trip to the ER count as a good reason?” Thane joked. From the look on Kit’s and Phillip’s faces, the joke fell flat. “Sorry. I should have called your phones to let you know why I wasn’t coming so you wouldn’t worry. I’m still not used to this guardian gig.”
“You’re doing pretty good for less than two months of practice,” Kit said, giving Thane another hug. “What can we do to help?”
“Right now, I just want something to eat and then to sleep off the effects of whatever the doctor gave me. Tomorrow we’ll see how my hand feels. I have to be careful about getting the stitches wet, but I can use it unless it hurts too much.”
“We have food,” Phillip said. “Derek made spaghetti.”
“With his mom’s secret sauce?” Thane perked up at the thought.
“Yes, idiot,” Derek said from the doorway. “What else would I make it with?”
“Asshole.”
“Dick.”
Kit and Phillip laughed, bringing a smile to Thane’s face. He still didn’t know what the hell he was doing, but if he could make his boys laugh, he couldn’t be doing too badly.
BLAKE had just set the kids to taping the seams between the flats on the sewer set when he heard heavy footsteps on the stage behind him. None of the students moved that heavily, which meant he had company.
He summoned a smile and turned to face Thane. “Mr. Dalton, I wasn’t sure if we’d see you today.”
“Sorry I wasn’t here on Tuesday,” Thane said. “I had to make a detour by the ER.”
Blake blanched when Thane held up his bandaged hand. “What did you do to yourself?”
“Cut my hand on a piece of tile. I wasn’t paying close enough attention to what I was doing.”
“Are you sure you’re up to working today?” Blake asked. “Not that you can’t observe, if that’s what you’d prefer, but I wouldn’t want to make your injury worse.”
“It’s my left hand, not my right. I can still hold a paintbrush. That’s what Kit and Phillip said you were doing most of this week,” Thane replied evenly.
“I suppose that’s true.” Blake shifted from one foot to the other, feeling incredibly awkward. He could feel Thane’s gaze pinning him like he’d done at the club, but this time they didn’t have the barrier of disco lights, music, and a churning mass of bodies to act as a buffer. “Right, so, painting. There are brushes stage left. Everything gets painted black for now. We’ll add the pipes in gray later. The senior art students will come chalk them in after we have the background done. Pick a platform that’s been taped and have at it.” He gestured vaguely toward where they had rolled the finished walls. “I’ll just… be over there. Taping.”
Blake scurried away, cheeks aflame as he cursed his inability to put together a coherent sentence in Thane’s presence. He had to get it together or the students who knew him best would start asking questions he couldn’t answer.
He took a minute to cross the hall to the shop and check on the students who were working in there under Zach’s careful supervision. They had everything under control, though, so he had no reason to linger. He could check in with Jenny where she was running lines with the actors in her classroom, but she wouldn’t appreciate the distraction, especially since he had no real question to ask her. He’d already updated her on their progress with the sets and the fact that they’d be far enough along by the end of next week for her to start rehearsing onstage. The mission set was almost finished, and they could work backstage on the others while she started choreographing the mission scenes onstage.
That left going back into the theater to work on the sets that hadn’t been finished yet. Back where Thane was. He tugged on the hem of his sweatshirt, glad it was an oversized one that hung loosely on him. He couldn’t stop Thane from watching him, but he could control what the other man saw. He’d have to remember to dig out all his longest, loosest sweatshirts so he’d be ready, no matter which day Thane chose to come help. He could mostly handle being watched at the club when he’d dressed for the attention, but he left all that at home when he came to school.
He slipped quietly back into the theater through the stage right door, as far away from where Thane would be working as possible u
nless he went up into the light box, but he couldn’t do any good up there until Jenny had all the choreography laid out and he could start working with Amber on the best way to highlight the important parts of each scene. Stage right was blessedly empty for the moment, so Blake crossed to the curtains that separated the wings from the stage and simply looked over the stage. A couple of the kids had moved the platforms out into the center of the stage, and Thane stood on one, paintbrush in hand, laughing with Morgan as they painted.
Damn it, Thane wasn’t supposed to make the kids like him. He was supposed to be the arrogant asshole so Blake could go on resenting him. It made it so much easier to ignore his attraction when he could honestly say he didn’t like the man. As he watched, Kit came bouncing up to his uncle, a grin on his face. Thane reached out with his bandaged hand and tousled Kit’s hair. Kit’s grin widened into a beaming smile. The change from the sullen boy in his office only a few weeks earlier was marked. Blake wanted to take credit for some of that, but he suspected most of the progress came from Thane. Blake tore his gaze from the scene and went to work before he could do something stupid—like try to join the perfect tableau.
Chapter Eleven
THANE looked at his watch for the umpteenth time in the past hour. He didn’t want to go too early and end up having to wait for hours to see if Barnes would show up, but he also didn’t want to wait until too late. He didn’t know what time Barnes had arrived last weekend, but he’d left shortly after midnight even though the bar didn’t close until two thirty. Seven o’clock was early still, though. It made him look too eager if Barnes was there and increased the likelihood of making him look like a fool if Barnes didn’t show. He’d wait until nine. That was a respectable time to start partying on a Saturday night, and if Barnes wasn’t already there, Thane could enjoy the scenery while he waited. It wasn’t like he’d do anything more than look even if Barnes was there. Things were awkward enough between them. Thane didn’t need to make it worse by coming on to him.
Now he just had to fill the next hour until it was late enough to get dressed and head out. And figure out what to tell Kit and Phillip about where he was going and why. They weren’t babies. He could tell them he was going to a club, even a gay club. They could imagine what they wanted from there. He didn’t have to confirm or deny their suspicions or even give any indication he had ideas about what their suspicions might be. They would probably be partially right, but they had no reason to think he was going out hoping to see their Mr. B. in leather again. They didn’t need to think about Barnes that way. Thane might not be an expert on all things educational, but they respected Barnes, and he didn’t want to do anything to change that.
“Uncle Thane?” Phillip’s voice drew Thane out of his thoughts. He looked up and smiled, but Phillip didn’t smile back.
“What’s wrong?” Thane asked.
“I… I could use a little advice.”
“What kind of advice?”
Phillip took a seat on the couch next to Thane and picked at the hem of his sweater. “I don’t know anything about girls.”
“You’re sixteen. Nobody expects you to,” Thane replied. He wasn’t prepared for this conversation. “Hold that thought. I’m going to get a drink. Do you want something?”
Phillip shook his head, so Thane grabbed a beer from the kitchen and came back to sit next to Phillip. He took a long swig to fortify himself. “Okay, what do you want to know?”
“How am I supposed to know if she likes me?” Phillip asked.
“Are you asking in general or are we talking about someone in particular?”
“Someone in particular,” Phillip mumbled.
“Anyone I know?” Thane asked. He only knew the tech-crew kids, but he might be lucky.
“Darcy, from stage crew. She’s so funny and pretty and smart. I really like her, but I don’t know if she feels the same way,” Phillip blurted out.
Thane took a minute to fix which one Darcy was in his head. Thin, brunette, bouncy ponytail. He could see why Phillip would like her. “Girls are complicated. Guys are much easier to figure out.”
“Yeah, but I like girls,” Phillip replied. “I mean, I don’t care who other people like. That’s their business, but I like girls.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” Thane replied. “As long as you don’t judge other people for their sexuality.”
“What’s there to judge? I mean, you’re bi, and I’m pretty sure Kit is too, and I think Mr. B. is gay, and he’s my favorite teacher. What do I do about Darcy?”
“That kind of depends on you,” Thane said. “On what you want. Are you looking to score or are you looking for a relationship?”
“Uncle Thane,” Phillip moaned.
“If you can’t talk to me about it, how are you going to talk to her about it?” Thane asked.
“I want to ask her out, take her somewhere nice. Only I don’t know if she feels the same way,” Phillip said. “She could already have a boyfriend, for all I know.”
“Then that’s the first thing you have to find out,” Thane said. “Because getting involved with someone else’s girlfriend isn’t cool. Ask her about what she did this weekend. Did she go out? Give her a chance to mention a boyfriend if she has one. Or a girlfriend. If she doesn’t mention anyone special, that’ll give you that much information. And it’ll tell you what she likes to do, too, so you know what to suggest if you decide to ask her out.”
“Yeah, I can do that.” Phillip started to stand up.
“Wait, we aren’t done.” Thane caught Phillip’s arm and kept him in place. “There are condoms upstairs in my bathroom. Keep one in your wallet and use it if it gets to that point.”
Phillip flushed bright red. “Uncle Thane! I don’t even know if she likes me yet. I’m not thinking about having sex with her.”
“You’re sixteen. Keep one in your wallet. Maybe you won’t use it anytime soon, and that’s fine. I’m not telling you to go sleep around with anyone who’s offering. I’m telling you to be smart about it. And while we’re on the subject—”
“We aren’t on the subject,” Phillip groaned.
“Phillip, this is serious. Anything less than an enthusiastic yes means no, and you ask before you touch—Darcy or any girl. Anytime, every time. Understand?”
“I know, Uncle Thane. I wouldn’t do anything like that.”
“I don’t think you would, but it’s easy to get caught up, especially at your age, and forget to ask, and it’s easy for the person you’re with to get caught up and not realize until later that they wish they’d thought about it first.” Thane remembered that age all too well. He liked to think he’d never forced anyone into anything without realizing it, but he hadn’t been as careful as he could have been either. He didn’t want Phillip to have those same regrets later.
“I’ll be careful. I promise.”
“Good.” He pulled Phillip into a tight hug. “You can always talk to me, no matter what about, okay?”
Phillip hugged him back. “Okay. I love you, Uncle Thane.”
Thane tightened his embrace and wondered when hearing those words had become so important to him.
When Phillip stood this time, Thane let him go and flopped back against the couch. That was one safe-sex talk down. He’d need to have one with Kit sooner or later, but that could wait until another night. He glanced down at his watch again. Enough time had passed that he could think about getting ready to go out, but the conversation with Phillip made him question what he was doing. Was he that much of a hypocrite, that he’d go out of his way to rile up Barnes, knowing Barnes wasn’t interested and that nothing would come of it?
If Barnes had shown the slightest hint of interest, it would be different. Still a bad idea, but a mutual one. As it was, it bordered on harassment. He couldn’t give that kind of example to his boys. He groaned and scrubbed at his face, his beard abrading his palms. Guess he was staying in tonight and getting reacquainted with his hand.
Fuck. How was this his
life?
BLAKE finished dinner and debated what to do with the evening. Normally he’d go to the Bar Complex if he didn’t have other plans because there was always something going on there, whether it was a drag show or go-go dancers or simply the chance to hang out and dance. Far more often, he went out to dinner with friends or caught a movie or a show at the Opera House or the Lexington Philharmonic, but he usually ended up at the club once every three or four months. Somehow, though, he’d wound up with two weekends in a row with no other plans.
Before last weekend, he wouldn’t have hesitated, but running into Thane had changed the game. He thought he’d managed their meeting with credible grace. He hadn’t made a complete fool of himself, but that was only some consolation. He might not be as lucky the next time. Or Thane could be there and show absolutely no interest in Blake this time. He wasn’t sure which would be worse.
He washed his dishes and set them in the drying rack. He could see what movies were out. There was probably something worth seeing, at the Kentucky even if not in the regular cinemas. Or he could finish rereading The Power of Myth after he’d spent an hour talking with Zach about it while they were working. He had options that didn’t involve going to the club.
But if he did that, if he let Thane dictate his choices, he wouldn’t be able to look himself in the mirror tomorrow morning. He spent so much time talking to his students about making their own decisions for themselves, for the right reasons rather than because of someone else. He couldn’t let the possibility that Thane would be at the club take his decision out of his hands. He was many things, not all of them good, but he’d never been a hypocrite, and he couldn’t start now.
He stomped into the bedroom to find something to wear. Not the leather tonight. He’d worn those last week. Maybe jeans? Or his black linen trousers, the ones that clung to his legs. He could pair them with one of his loose silk shirts. It would be a different look than the week before, but he’d had more than one offer dressed that way. If Thane was there, let him look. And if he wasn’t, Blake could relax and have a good time.