by BA Tortuga
“Maybe. I have been powering down coffee and sweets.” That would dehydrate a man even in Texas. “We’ll have a protein day.”
“Caveman, ho! Steak! Bacon! Chicken!”
God, he loved Josh in a good mood. “Mmm. Bacon. I bet we can get a great burger somewhere.”
“There’s a café downtown,” Josh said.
“In Madrid?” The juice and pills began to kick in pretty quick, and the water made him feel human again.
“Yes, but I figured we should stop here. Driving in the car, queasy and empty belly do not a good combination make.” Logic? From Josh?
Whoa.
“Oh, like in the Plaza. That neat diner, right?” That sounded like fun.
“Uh-huh. I think that’s even its name. The Plaza Diner.”
“Oh excellent. Well, let’s do it.” Kris dragged his ass out of bed, feeling good enough to grab naked Josh and hug him.
Josh looked surprised for half a second, then wrapped those warm arms around him. He found himself grinning into big brown eyes, the huge mass of copper curls fascinating him. Kris stroked that hair, which the dry air made float like something out of a Disney movie.
“I know, right? I thought the humidity was supposed to make it bigger, not the dry.”
“It makes it static-y, right? I like it.” He liked everything about Josh’s body.
“I feel like a lion. Roar!” Josh shook his head, making everything bigger.
Kris hooted. “That would be a mountain lion here, right?” He combed through Josh’s hair gently with his hands.
“Yeah. You think they’re just roaming wild here?”
“I guess? I see it on the news.” Kris kissed Josh quickly, the pain in his head fading with every breath.
“Weird and yet, vastly cool.”
“I know. The ravens here fascinate me.”
Josh headed to the suitcase to pull out clothes, just plopping down on the floor bare-assed naked. Goofball. “I know, right? They’re fucking loud. Worse than grackles. I love it.”
“I love their faces. So smart looking.” Kris walked to the bathroom so he could wash up.
By the time he was done, Josh was dressed, looking like nothing more than Austin personified. The long hair was tamed, the too-big jeans and flannel shirt screamed hipster, and then there was the corduroy vest. Lord.
Kris guessed he looked more… Dallas the TV show, maybe? Creased jeans, a button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Boots. More Deep South, for sure. The cowboy in him was urban these days, but it was still there, sort of crouching inside his soul like a bucking bull in a chute.
The image tickled him, and he laughed at it. “Okay. Food? I slept through baked eggs, I think,” he said, meaning the breakfast part of B and B.
“Yeah. Ew. I went down early and grabbed a couple of cookies, but they were stale.”
“Too bad. Hal seems like a nice guy, but I think next time hotels are our friends.”
“Yeah. I get you. Remember, I was going to camp.”
“Public outhouses.” Kris groaned. “Queasy again.”
“Butthead.” Josh tossed over a cinnamon-covered cookie. “Eat this and we’ll go have diner food.”
“You give me stale cookies?” He winked, though, and munched away. Anise. Yum.
“Bis… bis… biscones? Bisconos?”
“Biscochitos.” Kris thought they were, anyway. “You driving today?”
“I do have a license. I’m totally legal.”
“I didn’t say you weren’t.” Kris frowned. Had he said that?
“Hey, I was just teasing. Honest. I swear.” Josh took the keys and headed for the door. “Let’s go.”
“Oh.” Now he felt like an ass. He ducked his head and followed Josh to the car, totally out of sorts. Yesterday had been such a good day. What the hell was wrong with him? Happiness fucking hangover?
Kris guessed he was the one who held a grudge, and God knew he’d gotten his share of beer hangovers in college.
Josh had his sunglasses on and headed into town. He drove the speed limit, managed traffic, found a parking space, and fed the meter.
Why was Kris so goddamned angry? What was wrong with him?
Kris finally decided he was pissed because he had to share Josh today. Yesterday had been theirs. Today was work, and the real world would creep in.
Josh led him to the square and got them a table in the back, out of the sun.
“Thanks, baby.” The diminutive slipped out so easily after years of trying not to use it. “Water and orange juice for me,” he told the waiter.
“Coffee and a huge water, please.”
“Be right back,” the man said, and Kris and Josh grinned at each other.
“Water,” they said together.
Then they started laughing, hard and loud, and fuck, didn’t that do more for his headache than anything else? He reached for Josh’s hand on the tabletop and squeezed it once before letting go. Yeah, he was all pissy when he should just be enjoying himself.
Josh knocked boots with him, and they just looked at each other like the world’s biggest assholes, grinning like monkeys.
“You guys are having too much fun,” their waiter said, dropping off drinks. “You want some blue corn pancakes or some huevos rancheros?”
“Blue corn pancakes for me, with bacon.”
“Same here, please.” As if Kris was going to go savory over sweet.
“Two bacon, two corn cakes. I’m on it.”
Kris didn’t even look at Josh’s coffee when it hit the table. Juice. That was the ticket. Soothing.
Josh downed the water in one take, set it at the edge of the table to be refilled, and then doctored his coffee. Smart man. When had Josh become so much better than Kris at taking what he needed?
Somehow Josh had grown up and gotten his shit together, and Kris had missed it. He’d been wallowing in his own misery, maybe. The thought made him snort.
“What’s funny? Share.”
“I was just thinking how all I do is work.” He hid behind it, in fact.
“You’re the hardest-working man I know.”
“Thank you.” That meant a lot, that Josh felt Kris was good at what he did, that it mattered.
“Just the truth, cowboy. You’re a stud.”
“I guess.” He felt off-balance. Not at all studly. “You’re handling all this better than me.”
“I’ve been praying for you to believe in me for a long time.”
Kris stared at Josh, not knowing what to say. He wanted to believe Josh was safe and sane and sober, but he knew drunks never really changed. His mom had proved that over and over.
It didn’t take long for Josh to drop his eyes, to look into his coffee.
“I do believe you’re onto something with the artists around here, baby.”
“I do too. Austin will love them.” Josh pulled out his phone, tapped in some directions. “Did you want to go up toward Taos or back toward Madrid?”
“Well, they said you would find that Cypress guy in Madrid. I think since he does all the different mediums, you ought to see him first.”
“Good deal. I’ll put it in the GPS.”
“I was reading up on it last night. Apparently there are a ton of little galleries.”
Josh nodded. “It’s an hour or so. It’ll be a nice drive.”
“Make sure you get some coffee to go, then.” He winked, trying to get to a good mood.
“Yep. It’s my thing.”
The pancakes came, and they started eating, the food too good to interrupt with words. The blue corn cakes tasted almost like cornbread, but they were pancakes too, and the salty bacon was the perfect counterpoint.
Josh paid the bill and finished his coffee. “I’m going to hit the head before we go.”
“Sure, baby.” He sat, not sure what to do. What a weird headspace for him. Kris was a cowboy. Do what needed to be done. Work hard. Move forward.
He shouldn’t have come. He absolutely shouldn’t have come on to Jos
h. Made love to him. God. So much for not regretting things for a moment.
Panic started to set in, and Kris leaned back, closing his eyes. Just breathe.
“Come on, Kris. Let me take you back to the B and B.”
“No.” His eyes popped open. “I mean, I’m good. Really.”
“You sure? You look… wigged.” Josh was too fucking sensitive for his own good. Seriously.
“I’m fine.” He smiled, letting all the baggage fall away.
“Yeah? Cool. You want to go, then? Explore our options?”
“I say we go for it.” He didn’t have to force a smile. Josh was impossible to resist. He wanted to make Josh happy.
God, he was a sap. He guessed there were worse things. Like being in love with a man who was a drunk. They said you picked the worst part of your parents in your partner.
“Come on, you turkey! We have an artist to discover!”
“Old highway and weird mining towns, ahoy!” Kris stuck his arm in the air a la Washington crossing the Delaware.
Josh laughed for him, just like he wanted. Better. No sense in being so damned freaked-out. Art good.
They wandered to the car, Josh whistling like a little bird. The sound usually made Kris smile, but today he found it grated his nerves like cheese.
“I’ll totally still drive, if you want. Give your head a break.”
“Thanks, babe. I appreciate it.” That would be nice, putting his head back and closing his eyes.
“No problem.” Josh got in, found some soft New Age-y guy with a guitar shit on the radio.
Kris did grin then, because that was better than the wailing world music Josh had listened to in college.
God, they’d had fun. They’d met in their freshman year and had been inseparable, even if they hadn’t been brave enough to come out to each other for two years.
When they had confessed one drunk night out on an abandoned playground… whew. Kris still got hot just thinking about that crazy jumble of hands and mouths and orgasms.
They’d been on fire.
Hell, they were pretty en fuego last night.
“You’re thinking so hard smoke is about to pour out of your ears,” Josh said, touching his leg across the console.
“Just thinking about college.”
“Ah.” Josh nodded and pulled back a little, offering him a half grin. “We had some adventures.”
“We did. God, do you remember the slip and slide?”
“I remember your grass burn. You tore your ass up.”
Kris chuckled. “I thought I was going to die.”
“No, that would have been when we decided to tailgate with our UT shirts on the OU campus during an Aggie game.”
“Oh fuck. That was fun.” Crazy, but fun.
“It was. We’re lucky we didn’t get our asses handed to us.”
“Yeah. We paid, though. Remember the sunstroke?” His neck had been terrifying for two weeks afterward, like a whole leper colony had camped out there.
“Oh man. The skin!” He’d chased Josh around their apartment with a piece of skin, making him scream.
“You gagged and gagged.” Kris laughed hard, his headache finally easing.
“That was the grossest thing ever. I mean, worse than your dirty laundry.”
“Hey!” Kris pinched Josh’s thigh. “At least I did laundry.”
“You had to, because God….”
“I had sweaty feet. Sue me.” He and Josh had fought endlessly about laundry and dishes. Josh would probably be shocked at the neat state of his house now.
“Nah. It’s just that you had to take care of that awful shower foot thing.”
God, there was no teasing like someone who had known you as a teenager.
“My mom always told me to wear shower shoes.”
The soft laughter got louder. “Well, good thing you grew out of it.”
“No kidding.” So not sexy, that athlete’s foot.
Josh stretched, yawned hugely. “Man, this is amazing country.”
“It is. So many types of terrain.”
“Yeah. You think New Mexico is just like West Texas.”
“Which it’s so not, right?” Kris was amazed at the reds and greens and golds all around them.
“No. This is the mountains.”
“High desert.” The words meant something once you’d seen it. The carved rock hills called to something deep inside him.
“Listen to you.” Josh grinned at him. “I love it.”
“Yep.” Kris chuckled. “It surprises you when I get excited about something not work, huh?”
“Yeah. It’s cool. Hot, really.”
“Is it?” Kris pondered that and decided to be flattered. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
The trees kept getting heavier, and he saw deer, rabbits, and… shit. Shit. “Was that a bear?”
“Where?” Josh stopped the SUV in the middle of the road, then backed up.
“Josh! We’re on a state road. You can’t just back up!”
“No? Kris, we might get to see a bear!”
“Well, no one’s behind us.” Kris grinned, getting into the bear spirit.
“Okay, where did you see it?”
“Just beyond that little bluff.” He pointed off to his side of the road.
Josh stopped the car, leaning against him as he strained to watch.
“There!” That was a dark shape, and not a cow or a horse.
“Kris!” Josh hooted, bouncing against him.
“I know! A bear.” He laughed out loud, feeling like a kid.
“I…. Dude. A real live bear. That’s… it’s a bear!”
The bear decided it was tired of them and wandered out of sight, but yeah, that was too cool.
“Dude.” Josh sat back, eyes still wide.
“You want me to drive for a bit? My head is way better.”
“I. No. No, I’m just…. That rocked.”
Kris touched Josh’s hip, liking how that firm body pressed against his.
Josh settled back. “Sorry. I was just so excited.”
“You’re adorable.” He could only hope the artist hunt went this well.
“I’m having a ball.”
“I’m glad.” Kris almost begged a kiss, but Josh got the car going again.
“Me too.” Josh pulled out, easing back onto the highway.
“So, did I tell you I was reading about Madrid?” Kris asked, pulling another topic out of the air.
“Did you? What did you discover, O Guru of the Research?”
“It was a mining town. There’s copper, barium, and chunks of turquoise in the water, and this moratorium on building and such. They have this whole water cooperative thing going on, but that’s only if you’re one of the people in a certain area. It’s a huge issue.”
“No shit? Really? What do restaurants do?”
“Cope, I guess,” Kris said. “It’s an issue for everyone. Houses. Businesses.”
“Damn. That’s intense.” Josh shot him a look. “Can you imagine not being able to drink the water? I mean, I’ve had some well water that sucked, but damn.”
“No. I mean, we’ve had drought, but dude.” Kris liked to conserve water, but that took it to an extreme. Having to bring in water to drink? Trying to run a service business when there wasn’t enough water to flush a toilet? Wow.
The road wound down into a little valley finally, and the dusty, sleepy art town of Madrid appeared around a curve. Boom.
Josh had to drive damn near all the way through the one-road town before he found a place to park. They stepped out, the scent of pinyon burning stinging Kris’s nose.
“Wow, it’s chilly.” Josh grabbed his hoodie. “You ready to wander?”
“I totally am.” Kris felt human again, as if the earlier headache was just a panic attack or something.
They headed down the street, passing antique stores and a store that sold silver jewelry and yarn. There was a coffee shop-general store-gallery thing, a
nd a big barn of a bar.
“God, this is great.” Josh took everything in, every single thing, those brown eyes never missing a tiny detail. Tactile, he touched little bells and velvety flowers and silk streamers.
Josh spoke to everyone, charming old ladies and teenagers. One elderly lady in a purple hat stopped them, asking, “Are you here to get married, boys?”
Josh chuckled softly. “He’ll have to ask first.”
“Oh, young romance.” She winked and moved on, but damned if the panic attack wasn’t back. For a second, Kris couldn’t breathe, it was so intense.
Josh looked over at him, flushed a little. “Hey. Hey, I was joking. No having a heart attack over the horror of being stuck with me.”
“Stop it.” The red cheeks and wide eyes Kris knew he sported had nothing to do with horror. They owed more to the idea sounding pleasant in a weird way.
“Let me get you a bottle of water.”
“Thanks, baby. I swear, I’m not going to pass out or anything.”
“Cool. I’ll be right back.” Josh headed to the little cooler in the front of the general store, then stood in line to pay for it.
“He’s yours, right?” A guy walked up to stand next to him, crazy rainbow dreads sticking out at all angles. “I shouldn’t make a play.”
Kris looked over at Josh, at the way the sunshine played in his bright hair.
“He’s taken.” The words popped right out, no thought required.
“Cool. You’re lucky. He’s hot as hell.”
“He is.” That long red hair lay in a braid, the little hat Josh usually wore tossed into the backseat of the car. Lean, lithe, utterly animated while he talked to the saleslady, Josh was damned near perfect.
Josh turned to him, smiled, and brought the water over. “Here you go.”
“Thanks. This is, uh—” Kris had no idea. He hadn’t introduced himself.
“Cypress. Hey.”
“Cypress the artist?” Josh blinked. “Really?”
Nodding, Cypress held out a slender, paint-stained hand. “Yeppers. I mean, I don’t know another Cypress.”
“I don’t either. I’m Josh. I came to meet you. I saw your art and I had to.”
“Well, hey.” Cypress smiled at them, each in turn. “Uh, come see my studio!”
“Please. Yes. I’d love to.” Josh looked awake, alive, eager.
The moment of jealousy Kris felt cramped his belly. Then he decided that was stupid. Josh would come back to him in a heartbeat. He was the one who couldn’t be sure. He was the one who didn’t know what to do.