Wayward Love

by Rhys Everly

  It was adorable really. And super hot. Having him claim me, claim my skin in that way. It made me feel like a teenager. I could only imagine how it made him feel.

  I grabbed my file folder and all the bags from the trunk and carried them inside just as Rachel opened the front door.

  “God,” she said when she saw all the stuff I was carrying, “I’m afraid to ask.”

  I waved her off and put the bags on the bartop.

  “I need your help with some of these. I’ve got some new light bulbs for…” I turned and pointed at the bar floor, “well, everything. They’re all so bright and cold. These should set the mood a lot better. Also, will you help me carry something from my car? It’s a lot heavier than I thought,” I said.

  “Now I really am afraid to ask,” she said but followed me outside regardless.

  “Is Andy here?” I asked.

  Rachel raised an eyebrow and grimaced. “Does a bear shit in the woods?”

  I rolled my eyes. Of course he was here. Obviously, I was glad he was here because it meant I’d be seeing him soon. But also, I’d asked him, begged him even, to take some days off and leave us in charge.

  Did stubborn, control freak Andy listen? Of course not.

  We’d already made leaps and bounds of progress. I couldn’t expect him to change entirely overnight.

  Not that I wanted him to change.

  I liked him just the way he was. I just wanted him to find the old Andy. The Andy who cared about himself, his health, and his body.

  It wasn’t enough for us to suck each other in the backroom every night for him to feel, and be, better.

  He needed to stop stressing. To recuperate. To live a little.

  It’s okay. He’s a work in progress. And God knows I love nothing more than a project.

  I opened the trunk, and Rachel saw what was inside.

  I’d had to recline the back seats to fit it in. Rachel ran her hand across the surface of the blackboard with a hint of amusement on her face.

  Well, more than she had already.

  “I’ve been begging him to get a sign for years. People can hardly see us when they walk past those fucking canopies. How the hell did you convince him to get one?” she asked.

  I pursed my lips and widened my eyes.

  “You haven’t told him, have you?”

  I shook my head, and Rachel laughed.

  “Well, I would tell you you’re crazy, but he seems to have taken a…liking to you over the last few days. So whatever you are doing, keep doing it,” Rachel said with extra umph in her tone.

  Did Rachel know about Andy and me? Had we given it away without realizing it? Or was she just as intuitive as she appeared to be?

  I better not let Andy know about that. I didn’t want to freak him out.

  Besides, she didn’t say we were doing something naughty or…R-rated. Perhaps she was simply implying that we’d become friends.

  Yeah, right. Even I don’t buy that.

  “Okay. Let’s take this in and I can start working on it,” I said.

  Rachel clapped her hands, then grabbed one side of the sandwich sign, dragging it out of the car. I grabbed the other end, and we carried it inside.

  It was only Tuesday, so we had no customers for the first couple of hours, something I was desperately trying to fix, but it didn’t matter.

  Because after all my changes were implemented, we’d be packed every single day of the week.

  Rachel got busy changing all the lightbulbs around the bar, and I got on my knees, those poor knees that had become way too accustomed in this position, to write the blackboard.

  It had to be perfect and attractive. So before I put the chalk pen anywhere near it, I drafted everything with a pencil.

  By the time I’d run the first layer of chalk over it, Andy came out and saw Rachel and me.

  “What the hell are y’all doing?” he asked.

  I turned to him and it took all my inner strength not to melt in a puddle of goo right there and then.

  He looked divine, even if he was dressed like a caveman. Those eyes, those cheekbones, those eyebrows. He made everything look good on him with that face.

  I wanted nothing more than to run up to him and kiss him, but I knew we had an audience, so I restrained myself. It was fucking hard, though. No pun intended.

  “You haven’t seen nothing yet,” I said.

  Andy looked at me and smiled.

  “Oh, I know that. I think I’m going to regret having you…do all this,” he said with a smirk. “What? Were the candles not enough? We had to change light bulbs too?”

  “Duh! This place looks drab at night. With the right light bulbs and the candles and the…No. That’s a surprise for later,” I said and stopped myself from revealing the other touches I was adding to the tables.

  “I’m scared now,” Andy said, and Rachel, who was standing behind him, rolled her eyes at me. She quickly composed herself when Andy turned around.

  Andy stepped closer to me and my art project for the day, hands on hips, and inspected my work.

  “It looks…” he started, and I closed one eye waiting for his disapproval. “Great. Did you do that? Of course you did. You’re holding a pen. That’s great work bab…Kyle.”

  Oh Jesus! Had he almost just said baby? Thank God Rachel was busy with the light bulbs again or this slip-up would definitely confirm her suspicions about us.

  Andy bit his lip and looked at Rachel, then back at me. I shrugged and a little giggle escaped.

  “Jerk,” Andy whispered.

  “Right, I need to let this dry for a second before I do another coating, so how about the second surprise for the day?” I asked and got up.

  I almost put my hands on his chest, but I remembered myself at the last minute, so I just put them on my chest instead.

  Andy grinned at my gesture.

  ”Second surprise? Just how many surprises do you have today?”

  “Let me think,” I put my hand on my chin and rubbed it. “The answer is…all in due course…” I said, holding the “my dear” inside.

  God, this was torture. I wanted to be myself around him. I wanted to be free to express myself. But I couldn’t, because no one knew about us.

  They couldn’t. At least not yet, I hoped. Not that I had any problem with that. Until we knew what this thing between us was, it was better to keep it under wraps. But surely if we kept sleeping with each other, if we wanted to keep sleeping with each other, he’d want to tell people, wouldn’t he?

  I shook my head and my train of thought with it. Now was not the time to think about these things. What it was time for was Andy’s second surprise.

  I walked to the bar and opened one of the bags, pulling a small box out and handing it to Andy.

  He took in his hands and stared at me as if I’d just given him an alien baby he didn’t know what to do with.

  “You can open it now,” I said.

  “What-what is it?” he asked.

  “Well, you won’t know unless you open it,” I said.

  “Kyle, you know I don’t like surprises,” he said.

  “Oh you don’t?” I said and put my hands together in front of my chest like the dramatic queen I was. “I didn’t know. You’ve only mentioned it, like, a thousand times since…”

  Well, I wasn’t gonna say since when, as it involved us both on a blanket on the floor of his office. And Rachel definitely didn’t need to know that.

  Andy huffed and put the box back on the bar, tearing the tape with his nails. He lifted the flaps and looked inside.

  “What is…?” he started but paused, staring at the surprise inside.

  Rachel came to stand next to Andy and looked inside the box, too. She was the first to take a copy of the menu out of the box.

  “Oh my God, Kyle. Did you design these? They are amazing,” she said and rubbed her hand across the new menu I’d created.

  I smiled at her warmly but turned to Andy. As much as her opinion mattered, th
ere was one person whose opinion mattered more, and by looking at his face, I couldn’t tell if he liked my surprise or if I’d fucked it all up again.

  I got closer to him but refrained from touching his arm. Before I even got within two feet off him, he turned his back to me and marched into his office.

  Oh shit.

  I had to go and find him. I had to apologize, didn’t I?

  Too much too soon. I should have known.

  Rachel sighed and fanned herself with the copy she was holding.

  “Don’t pay him any mind. He is allergic to change. These are great, Kyle. Really. Can I use them today?” she asked.

  “Yes, you can throw the old ones away. I think. If Andy doesn’t mind. But Eric knows about the new menus. I sat down with him a couple days ago and we put this together,” I said, and Rachel’s smile widened.

  She immediately walked to the hosting table, picked up the old menus, and walked back to the bar to put them in the trash.

  “As a bar manager, I am fully authorizing this disposal,” she said, and we both laughed.

  “I’m gonna go check on him,” I said after a few moments.

  “Good luck,” she said.

  I walked to the office and knocked on the door with some hesitation. I knew Andy, my Andy, liked his alone time. But I needed to know that he could at least forgive me for taking such a big step without asking him.

  All I heard was a thrum and I opened the door, not sure if it was his way of telling me to come in or to go away.

  Andy was standing in the middle of his office, watching me.

  “I’m so sorry, baby. I should have told you about it…” I started, but before I could even finish what I’d planned on saying, he attacked me with his mouth.

  Our lips locked together like they were supposed to. My mouth had missed his since last night. Having spent the last four nights with him was my own slice of heaven, and having to spend the night at home without him on the bed he’d made me his for the first time had been sheer torture.

  I closed the door behind me, and Andy pushed me against it. My hands rested on his chest, and I pushed him just enough to breathe.

  “I thought you were mad at me,” I said.

  Andy kissed my cheek before looking at me.

  “Mad? Baby, I wasn’t mad. I’m not mad. I was overwhelmed. And so fucking happy. I was just annoyed that I couldn’t hug and kiss you in front of Rach.”

  He planted more butterfly kisses on my face, the buzz in his low voice awakening my senses. “God, I love those freckles of yours.”

  “Don’t do that,” I reprimanded him and slapped his chest once. “I thought you were mad at me.”

  Andy smiled, and I slapped him again.

  “I’m sorry. I promise I’ll behave,” he said, but gave me an evil grin.

  “Do you really like the menus?” I asked.

  “Like them? I fucking love them,” he said, and the way he said the last sentence, looking deeply into my eyes, I wasn’t sure he was talking about the menus.

  “Listen, I know you hate surprises, but there’s loads more coming today. So if you want me to tell you what they are now so that you don’t get ‘overwhelmed’ later, then tell me,” I said.

  “Tell me now,” he grumbled and kissed my neck.

  “Well, there is a…flooooorist dropping by bunches of flowers with vases for the tables,” I started, and a little moan escaped me when he sucked on the soft spot between my collarbone and my throat.

  He hummed in approval but continued his downward trajectory.

  “Also, Coffee Tops is delivering some pastries we can use to sell during the day. They make mean pies by the waaaay,” I said as his hand brushed past my stomach, lifting my shirt to kiss my navel.

  “Aha,” he said.

  “I have also arranged for some painters to come in and paint the outside.”

  Andy unbuttoned my jeans.

  “Amazing,” he mumbled.

  “And I’ve put up posters around town to find new staff,” I said, my words barely audible.

  Andy pulled my underwear down enough to reveal my cock, which he took in his mouth making it impossible for me not to scream.

  I had to shut my own mouth before I revealed what exactly it was we were doing in here.

  “You’re killing meeeee.” I moaned.

  Andy pulled my dick out of his mouth and looked up at me.

  “I hope it’s a sweet, sweet death then,” he said, and he turned his attention back to my hard appendage.

  Holy mother of craps.

  If this wasn’t heaven, then I had no fucking clue what was.

  Seventeen

  Andy

  “You gotta stop doing this to me,” he said as he buttoned his jeans again and I got to my feet. “What if someone walks in?”

  I raised my eyebrow. “What if they do?”

  “Well, I don’t mind. But I’m pretty sure you would have a problem with that,” Kyle chuckled.

  “I know,” I said and took his hands in mine. “But what other way can I tell you how much I appreciate what you’re doing for me?”

  Kyle moved his right hand to his chin and pretended to think for a second.

  “Hm, I don’t know. Maybe say thank you. Or ‘you’re so kind, Kyle. You’re so talented, Kyle. I wanna suck your dick, Kyle, but I’ll restrain myself until we are all alone, Kyle,’” he said and I laughed.

  Just at that moment, the door burst open and…Maya walked in.

  It all happened in a split second, but I instantly removed my hands off Kyle and rubbed the back of my head.

  Maya, what are you doing here? I signed when I got my senses back.

  She had seen me touching Kyle, hadn’t she? Well, she was deaf, not blind for fuck’s sake. Of course she had seen it. How the hell did I explain it to her?

  Hey, Kyle, she said to him and I translated.

  “Well, I got that. You don’t need to translate that,” Kyle said and Maya laughed.

  “She knows who you are.”

  Kyle put his hands on his hips and turned to me.

  “Well, I would hope so. Nathan and I’ve been friends for years,” he said, and I briefly explained what he said, but Maya dismissed me as she could read his lips. “We were only hanging out together a few days ago,” he added.

  He was so cute I wanted to hug him and keep him close to my chest until he got bored of me.

  He would get bored of me, wouldn’t he? I was way too old for him, and it wasn’t like what we had was made to last. Right?

  We’re pals, she said and I couldn’t help the smile on my lips.

  “What was that? Don’t you use your secret language to have a little chat about me,” he said, and Maya’s shoulders shook as she laughed.

  “Secret language?” I raised an eyebrow.

  “Secret, sign, it’s the same thing,” he said and winked at me.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked Maya again.

  My classes were canceled for today, so I thought I’d visit home. Is that okay? she replied.

  Of course. I’m so glad to see you. Summer will be so excited to spend some time with you after school, I said.

  I showed both of them the door, and when they walked out of the office I followed behind them.

  “Do you think she saw us?” Kyle whispered while Maya’s back was turned to us.

  “I don’t know,” I replied, and once we got to the bar, I was amazed to find it busy.

  “What on earth happened here?” I asked Rachel.

  Rachel looked from me to Kyle and then to Maya before she answered. “We are busy. What does it look like, boss?”

  “But how?” I asked.

  “Well, after I put the sandwich sign outside, and the canopies up, people naturally started to see we exist. And I also stood outside with the new menu to entice people in. So, considering I am to thank for this rush, would you two mind giving me a hand before all these people walk out on me?”

  Kyle laughed and joined Rac
hel on the floor while I stood behind the bar and handled the drinks.

  Maya stood at the end of the bar with a glass of soda, watching us work. When the kitchen bell rang and both Kyle and Rachel were busy with other customers, I signed at Maya to get the food.

  I didn’t need to ask her twice. Maya had helped at the bar a lot over the years since her mother’s passing.

  It had been my way of keeping an eye on her, making sure that she was coping okay.

  Maya had been the one most affected out of all my kids by her mother’s death. She hadn’t lost just a mother and a best friend, she had also lost her mentor and teacher. The only other person in the family who understood life as a deaf person.

  So Maya was more than familiar with working at the bar and what she had to do.

  Maya continued giving us a hand until the rush died down and while we dealt with each and every table.

  Of course Kyle was his usual Kyle breeze, going from table to table with a big smile on his face and his special Kyle flare, charming every guest and making sure they all left happy regardless of their experience.

  Not that we had any complaints with the food. I couldn’t remember the last time we had served so many meals to people without any issues.

  If it wasn’t the amount of items on the menu that weren’t available anymore or the rush in the kitchen, it was the taste or the underwhelming presentation.

  I guess all that belonged to the past. Not only was the new menu shorter, condensed, and more manageable for both Eric and us, he seemed to have worked on his presentation, too.

  Had that also been an influence of the Kyle breeze? Or had Eric always been such a great chef and I’d failed to notice?

  If the latter was the case, what else had I failed to notice?

  Once things started to cool down and our customers returned to the street and back to their business, we all gathered around the bar and I poured water or sodas for everyone.

  “Well that was unexpected,” I said.

  “It sure was,” Kyle agreed.

  “What do you mean it was unexpected?” Rachel turned to Kyle. “It’s all your work, dude. Everyone said how amazing your sign looked and how it drove them inside. And your menu. And…everything you’ve done around here,” Rachel said, and Kyle blushed.