by Rhys Everly
I readjusted my butt on the seat and put both my hands on my knees.
“I’m so glad you asked me that question. I’m actually planning a Halloween festival for the bar. Well, it’s for the town really. I mean, it’s a small town. They love their festivals. You can’t have Leo Karras singing and not make it a big thing,” I said.
Davies removed his glasses and kept them on his cheek with a curious look.
“Leo Karras? Isn’t that the guy from the boy band? The one who’s been cast as Death Knight?”
“Oh, Mr. Davies. I’m impressed. Are you a superhero geek too?” I said.
Davies tried to play it casual and shrugged.
“Well, I used to read the comic books when I was younger. And I do occasionally watch a film or two,” he said.
“Nice. And yes. That’s the same Leo. He’s Andy’s brother and he visited last week. So I convinced him to lend us his vocals and do a kickass Halloween concert at the bar,” I said.
“I can’t say I’m not impressed,” Davies said. “This is great stuff, Kyle. You’ve got a celebrity to help with your cause. Make sure to use all of his popularity to help his brother’s business. To be honest, I’m surprised the guy hasn’t done it himself already.”
“He doesn’t know the business isn’t doing well. Andy is keeping a very closed lip on the subject,” I said.
“Men,” Davies shook his head, and in that one word, I finally knew the answer to my question. The question that had been on my mind since I met Gordon Davies.
Yep. Gordon was definitely gay.
“You can say that again,” I said, and Davies laughed.
“What do you need to do for your Halloween festival?”
“I’ve gotta find an opening act. And then tell Andy all about it,” I said, and Gordon chuckled.
“Good luck with that. And don’t forget to update your documents.”
“Thanks. Do you want to come with me?” I asked.
I planned on going on my own. But seeing the black bags under Gordon’s eyes and the excitement in his tone when we talked about superheros and festivals, I wanted to do something nice for him. Force him to have some fun. Which, from the looks of it, he didn’t have often.
“With what?” he asked.
“There’s a party in one of the sorority houses later, and they’ll be having some live music. Want to help me decide which one is a good opening act for Leo?”
Gordon’s face turned pink, and his self-restraint went out the window.
“I-I don’t have any business in college parties. I’m too old for them.”
“You’re never too old to have fun,” I said, and Gordon smiled. “Come on. All the other professors do it. Let loose for once, for God’s sake.”
Gordon puffed air out of his mouth as if I was asking him to carry the world on his shoulders and then nodded his approval.
There we go. Shields down. Now all I had to do was find him a hot boyfriend and there’d be one less miserable grump in my world.
I walked to the bar where Andy was standing next to Johnny and Rachel. Andy was taking a bite of the strawberry pie that Coffee Tops had delivered, and I couldn’t take my eyes off his mouth, red and full of fruit juice that made me want to lick his lips. Or better yet, cover him with strawberry pie and lick him head to toe.
Oh crap. That sounded seriously boner-inducing. We had to make that happen.
And how dare that pie give him his orgasm face? Only I was allowed to.
I was so horny when I approached him, if he turned my butt plug on now that I was in range, I’d probably come in my pants without even touching myself.
Keep your head straight, Kyle. Straight thoughts.
Andy licked the cream off the fork he was using and a hum vibrated through my throat, which I thankfully didn’t let out loud.
Oh, who was I kidding? I hadn’t had a straight thought in my entire gay life. I wasn’t about to start now.
“I see you’ve all met Andy’s new girlfriend,” I said as I approached and all eyes turned on me.
Andy looked like a deer in headlights, while Rachel and Johnny glared at me.
“Oh my God, Andy,” Rachel explained. “You’ve got a girlfriend?”
Andy shook his head dramatically, still chewing the pie in his mouth.
“Could have fooled me with that strawberry pie. Showing her a good time, are ya?” I said.
Johnny cracked up and Rachel choked up a laugh.
“You’re not funny,” Andy said with a full mouth, flicking me with crumbs.
“And you’re not five. Close your mouth,” I said, putting up my hands to protect my face.
“You’re wrong, boss. He makes me laugh,” Rachel giggled and gave me a hug.
Thank God it was a hug from behind because my boner was excruciatingly obvious. So much so that I had to stand at the bar until my dick softened again, which would be a task in itself considering Andy was still eating the pie.
“You know that pie is for customers, right?” I said.
“I’m paying for it. It’s my freaking pie,” he bit back. “I thought you were busy today. What are you doing here?”
He sounded dismissive. Had I pissed him off by making that joke?
Or was he still sensitive after that grilling by his family about his new girlfriend the other day?
“I am. And I’m not staying long. But…I have some news and I’m finally ready to share,” I said.
I wasn’t planning on saying anything yet, but considering Leo had confirmed on my way home, I decided I couldn’t keep it any longer.
Also, it was Andy’s brother for crying out loud, so if I didn’t say anything, Leo would.
“What news?”
I rolled my eyes at Andy and turned to Rachel for help.
“Drumroll please,” I said.
Rachel happily obliged and drummed her hands on top of the bar.
I put my file folder on the bar and opened it to reveal the poster I’d made for Halloween night.
With Mom’s help of course. She’d drawn the base, and I’d designed the rest.
“Cedarwood Beach is having a touch of a Halloween Festival,” I exclaimed. “And Andy’s Bar is ground zero.”
Andy choked and Johnny patted his back. Rachel screeched and grabbed the poster to read it properly.
“O-M-G. You got Leo to headline?” she said.
“Oh yes, baby. This is not the final poster, by the way. I still need to add the opening act on it and get some of the other local businesses to collaborate with us, but…” I turned to Andy. “What do you think?”
No one else’s approval mattered more than his.
Andy drank a glass of water Johnny had poured for him before he answered.
“You really got Leo to do this? Isn’t he busy filming or something?” he asked.
“He has a break that week. He was coming back to see another property, anyway, so it worked for him. I would have said something sooner, but he needed to get approval from the record label to sing One Shot songs. You can’t have Leo Karras without One Shot, can you?” I said.
“That’s-that’s amazing, Kyle. What gave you the idea?”
“What gave me the idea? Babe, I’m full of ideas,” I said and almost winced when I realized what came out of my mouth.
I had done such a fantastic job of keeping Andy’s pet names in check all this time. What possessed me to call him babe?
I just hoped the guys put it down to my flamboyant personality and didn’t think I was seriously calling Andy “babe.” Rachel didn’t need me to add any more fuel to the fire.
“I can’t believe it. Thank you. So much,” Andy said and took me by surprise when he came round and hugged me. In front of Rachel. And Johnny. And the rest of the patrons.
Before he realized what he was doing, I took the opportunity to inhale his scent and relish in his PDA.
It also didn’t help with the boner situation. But, who cared.
“Isn’t that what I’m here to
do?” I asked when I finally got my voice back.
I didn’t lose my voice very often.
Andy unhooked his hands from around my back, and I had to fight the urge to pull him by the collar of his shirt and put my lips on his.
“I know. But…still”
“Are we celebrating something?” someone said behind me, and I turned to find one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen in my entire life.
“Aren’t you just plaindeadgorgeous?” I said in one breath. “Are you real? Are you an illusion? Have I died? Am I dead? Are you God? I knew God was a woman.”
The woman froze in front of me and her cheeks turned red.
“I don’t know who you are, but I love you. Will you marry me?” she said, and I gave her my hand.
“Shut up. I was gonna ask you,” I said. “But, oh well. As long as we’re together.”
“Hi, Kyle,” a little ball of energy said next to her, and I turned to Summer who jumped into my arms without warning, making me fall backwards on the floor.
“Hello, pretty girl. What are you doing here?” I asked her, and Summer giggled.
“Aunty Melody wanted to have lunch with us,” she said, and I looked back at the beautiful woman.
Aunt Melody? Nathan’s Aunt? Andy’s sister? God! Did this family produce any unattractive people or were they all manufactured and shipped straight from the divine mountains in Greece?
“Hi, Maya”, I said when Andy’s older daughter came to stand next to Melody.
Yep. This family had perfect genes. It made me wish I could get pregnant just so I could have a gorgeous kid myself. Did they sell their souls to the devil or something? I needed answers.
“You’re Melody? I need to tell Nathan. He needs to start warning people his family is so drop dead gorgeous. Unless he wants me to die of a heart attack, which I wouldn’t put it past him,” I said and got up with Summer still in my arms so that I could introduce myself to Melody.
Melody raised an eyebrow and laughed.
“Okay, girls. Wanna grab a table?” Andy said and pushed Maya and Melody toward a booth.
“Oh yes. I am starving, and I need to try some of the cheese and ham pretzel casserole everyone is raving about,” Melody said.
“Come on, missy,” Andy raised his voice at Summer who reluctantly unhooked herself from me and put her feet back on the floor.
“Watch how you talk to my BFF, okay?” I told Andy, and Summer laughed.
Andy didn’t reply. Instead, he gave me an evil glare, which I assume was supposed to scare me, but darling, I’d seen worse things than a grump in a huff. I wasn’t scared. If anything, I was even more amused.
“Is that supposed to spook me?” I asked.
“Shut up, Kyle,” he said and walked away from me toward the booth his family had taken.
Well…what a quick turn things had taken. Was he…was he embarrassed by me?
I mean, I knew I was a bit much, but he always reassured me that he loved my eccentricity.
And I knew he wanted to keep our relationship a secret. It’s not like I was shouting it from the rooftops though, was I?
I was just being silly. And overthinking it.
He was joking. Right? Or had it been my comment about Nathan’s sexy family that had set him off?
Dear Lord! Me and my stupid mouth. Sometimes I wish I could shut me up.
And I wish I could shut my brain up, too. Because all I could think for the rest of the day was that Andy was just using me for sex, he was embarassed by me, and we’d never have anything real.
Which I knew wasn’t the case. Or did I?
Twenty-Two
Andy
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d interviewed someone.
What did I even ask? Everyone who worked for me got a job because I either knew them personally, like Eric who was a high school friend, or I knew their families, which was the case with the rest of them.
It’d been a lot of years since I’d done anything remotely professional like interviewing someone for a job.
But if the bar kept getting busier, as it had in the last couple of weeks, we were going to need to add some serious numbers to our team.
Especially Eric. The man was a trooper. Cooking on his own, pretty much twenty-four seven. The man didn’t have a life outside of work. Just like me. He deserved a break.
That was why when I walked into my bar at midday—after Rachel insisted on opening the bar that morning—I was surprised to find her already in conversation with a candidate.
“What’s happening? Why is she interviewing people?” I asked Johnny who was serving a couple of regulars at the bar.
“She’s the bar manager, right?” Johnny asked with a chuckle and served the first of the two older men who took up permanent residence at the bar.
“But I was supposed to be doing interviews,” I said.
The man Johnny had served raised his beer and aimed it at me, like he was scolding a child.
“Why are you getting new people? The bar’s fine as it is. What’s with all the changes?” he said, and I didn’t even bother answering him.
Regulars like him were one of the reasons why I’d been scared to change how I did things at my bar for so long. For fear of scaring them and their money.
“I thought that fag you got was enough help,” he added, and this, I couldn’t ignore.
“I’m sorry, what?” I said.
“Really, Jack?” Johnny said at the same time.
“What? What did I say? If you ask me, that kid’s trouble. You know how those people are. You get one, and the rest follow behind. Then, before you know it, this place is full of queers,” he said, and everything inside me flared.
I’d had people make comments about my family in the past, but never so blatant. Never so passive-aggressively. And if he kept going, he’d tip me off the edge.
I wanted to tell him to shut his mouth. To get the fuck out of here. To stop talking like that about Kyle. To tell him that kid was more man than he would ever be.
“And you’re cut off,” Johnny said and snatched the glass away from Jack. “Now, go back to your cave, old man. You’re not welcome here any more.”
“Ah, don’t tell me you’re a fag, too. See? I told ya so,” Jack turned to tell me.
“Get out of here, Jack. You heard Johnny. You’re no longer welcome here,” I said.
“What? I’m not allowed to express myself as I please? Is freedom of speech dead in this country? It’s my right to say things as it is.”
“And it’s my right to kick you out of my bar,” I said, and Jack looked behind me at the other regular for support.
“It’s his bar, man,” the regular said and turned away from the conversation.
Very diplomatic answer. Didn’t really help me decide if he was one of them, too.
“Fine. Your loss, Andy. Your loss,” Jack slammed his hand on the bar and left in a fury, the rest of the patrons watching him wide-eyed.
“I didn’t need that first thing in the morning,” I said and took a swig of the beer Johnny had snatched from Jack.
When I tried to pass him the glass back, Johnny refused to take it.
“Drink it,” he said.
“I can’t drink it. I’m working,” I said.
“No you’re not,” he said.
“Hmm, yes I am.”
“No.”
“I think I know my schedule better than you.” I arched a brow at him.
“Apparently not. You’re off today,” Johnny said with an equally arched brow.
“I’m not off. I’m here, aren’t I?” I said.
“For now,” Johnny replied and passed me an envelope.
“What’s this?”
“Do I look like a psychic to you?” Johnny smirked and abandoned me to serve someone else.
I turned the envelope in my hands and found it was sealed shut with a Tweety sticker.
There was only one person in the world who would ever seal an envelope with
a Looney Tunes sticker, and that person was Kyle.
I pulled the flap open and took the letter out, which was addressed to me. Handwritten by my beautiful Kyle.
Surprise! You are off today. I’ve arranged everything. All you need to do is get your sweet ass to meet me at the LOVE sign down at the beach. I’m assuming you’re reading this at midday, so don’t be late!
Yours,
Kyle.
I folded the letter before anyone took a peek at the signature.
Rachel finished her interview with someone, and before she called the next person, I sat down opposite her.
“Do you know anything about this?” I asked, lifting the envelope in front of her.
“I don’t know what it says, but I know you are off today, and Kyle asked us to give you this letter.”
“But I’m doing interviews,” I said.
Rachel rolled her eyes and sighed.
“Boss, I’m really busy. You’ve got a day off. So…kindly, get the fuck outta here,” she said.
“Exactly. You’re busy, so you need my help. I can’t just abandon you guys.”
“You’re not abandoning us. You’re having time off. Like all of us deserve once in a while. So shut your mouth and march that beautiful booty out that door.”
I narrowed my eyes and stared back at her because I could tell she wanted to say more, but she didn’t.
Did she know about Kyle and I? How was it possible? Or was I being overly suspicious again?
“Okay,” I said. “But if you guys get fucked, don’t blame me,” I said.
“I wouldn’t. If I get fucked, I’d blame my husband.”
“I see everyone’s caught Kyle’s sense of humor,” I grimaced.
“It’s impossible not to catch some Kyle when you’re surrounded by him every day,” she said with a touch of snark that I didn’t appreciate.
Instead of humoring her, I walked out of the bar and back into my car. I grabbed my wallet and walked to the beach.
It might only be Tuesday, but the place was full of amateur photographers, aspiring social media models, and retired tourists.
The sign I’d heard so much about—but which I’d never had a chance to drop by and see—was actually quite the landmark.