“I can’t imagine safely getting into the bathroom without falling over. My legs are shot.” His shaft lay against his leg and it twitched when he noticed Scott eyeing him.
“Then I’ll join you in the shower in just a minute, to make sure you’re safe, of course.”
“Safety in pairs. You must be trying for another Boy Scout badge.” Kyle barely made it past the door before a pillow from the bed smacked the wall beside him.
Forty-five minutes later, two satisfied men fell into bed together and Scott pulled Kyle close. “I found something very interesting tonight.”
“What?” Kyle asked with a yawn.
“That first day you came to me, along with the ink on your chest, you wanted a tattoo on the inside of your thigh. A small butterfly, and you said it was for someone special.” He waited to see if Kyle would admit to anything, but he remained silent.
“You called Haleigh ‘Butterfly’. I find it very interesting she happens to have a birthmark high on her leg in the exact same spot you have your tattoo. Don’t you find that interesting? I don’t believe someone you just wanted to fuck would be important enough to put on your skin. Especially someone you decided to permanently walk away from.
“I didn’t fuck her. I sucked her precious untouched little clit into my mouth and sucked her off until she screamed. It was amazing, and do you know what the only thing missing was? You, asshole. She wanted you there, and so did I, but you had already bailed. She’s not going to wait on you forever, especially after you walked away again tonight. Which was totally shitty, by the way.”
“Thanks for the support.”
“Anytime. And furthermore,” he continued directly from his soapbox. “I love you, Kyle. Ever since you walked into the shop demanding I tattoo a pirate ship all over your chest, like you were Popeye or some shit.” Scott switched off the light, extinguishing all the illumination except for the faint glow from their smartphones. He reached over and hauled Kyle close until his head lay on his chest again. “Wanting to get inside that girl doesn’t make me think you want me any less, it just means you have one sound brain in your head because that woman is something fine. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good.”
“And technically you’re a hetero-virgin too, just like Haleigh. It’ll be pretty special when you two are together.”
Kyle didn’t comment. Scott didn’t need him to. Kyle’s fingers rubbing gently over the butterfly ink was answer enough.
Kyle lay there for an hour trying to fall asleep. He was exhausted, physically and mentally, but everything that had changed tonight nagged at him.
He crept from the bed, tugging a slip of paper out of Scott’s jeans, along with a tiny pair of panties. He inhaled the sweet scent of Haleigh’s sex, used the light on his phone to memorize the number before crawling back into bed. He tucked both reminders under his pillow, breathed a sigh of delicious anticipation and fell fast asleep.
Chapter Six
A couple days later, Kyle found his balls and called Haleigh. The stilted conversation was awkward, but he managed to convince her to meet him for a beer at CJ’s Bar the following Wednesday.
He sat in the corner booth waiting for her to arrive. Nerves skated up his spine like he was on his first date.
Chris Kennedy, one of the owners of CJ’s and also The Library, plunked a beer in front of him.
He took a load off in the other booth. “Haven’t seen you or Scott in a few, you guys all right?”
Kyle swallowed a mouthful of beer, trying to put more than two words together in his head. “We’re good, shop’s busy. How ’bout you?” He glanced around the crowded bar. “Looks like business is good.”
“Yeah, it’s good. Hey, we meant to say…thanks for your help with Cyn. And Scott’s too, if you could pass it along.” Chris stretched his shoulders, his neck, rubbing at his eyes.
“No problem, man.” The dark circles under his eyes were hard to ignore. “I’ve never seen you so exhausted. Everything okay?”
He scrubbed his short hair then shot a glare at the bar. Kyle followed his gaze to where Jared, Chris’s fraternal twin, stood taking an order.
“I messed up. Cyn’s asked for some time alone and both of us are chomping at the bit to claim her. We aren’t letting her go. Not now that we found her.”
“Anything I can do to help? We’re here if you need us.”
Chris nodded once in his direction. “Appreciate it. Where’s Scott? You guys normally come together.”
Kyle shrugged while trying to tamp down the nerves. “I’m meeting a friend of mine to catch up. We ran into each other in the shop a few days ago. I haven’t seen her since high school.” He speared fingers through his hair. “We’re thinking of bringing her to…uh…play.”
Chris’ mouth tilted up into a Grade-A Dom leer. “Since the incident a few weeks ago, and that fucker attacking Cyn, security is tighter. Scott will need to fill out the necessary paperwork. We’ll do a background check and if all of that clears, she’ll be granted temporary guest status.”
“He got the lowdown from Nick last night. All the necessary info should be over to you guys by tonight, or tomorrow at the latest.”
“Am I early or late?” Haleigh asked, stepping up to the table before Kyle even realized she’d arrived.
Kyle and Chris both stood.
“Neither,” Chris answered. “You’re right on time. Chris Kennedy.” He held out his hand. She smiled that shy smile, and Kyle’s heart thumped in his chest.
“Haleigh Grace, nice to meet you. Kyle was telling me about this place a few days ago. So, you own CJ’s?”
“And another business. My brother Jared and I own them together. He’s the snarly guy behind the counter tonight.”
She glanced around, briefly focusing on the other man. “I barely found a parking spot and it’s only what, eight o’clock?”
“We thankfully stay pretty busy. What can I get you to drink, Haleigh?”
“Can I have a lemon-lime soda? No alcohol, please, since I’m driving.” She wrinkled her nose, reminding Kyle of how enchanting she was.
“Yes, ma’am.” Chris stalked off, winding his way through the couples already on the dance floor.
Kyle waved Haleigh into the spot Chris vacated and sat across from her.
“So, how are—”
“Thanks for com—”
They both laughed, breaking the tension.
“I’m glad you came. I really wanted to talk to you, and apologize for running out the other night. Seeing you at the shop shocked the holy hell out of me.”
“I’d hoped you’d call. Wondered if you would since I kind of ran out myself…later.”
She blushed the prettiest shade of pink, but was saved from saying anything else when Jared arrived with her soda.
“For the lady.” Jared smiled as he set her beverage down in front of her. “I’m Jared, the good Kennedy twin. You must be Haleigh.”
They shook hands. Then she took a nervous sip of her drink. “How do you know who I am? Have we met before?”
“Nope. I’d remember you. Scott mentioned you last night. Said you were supposed to show up tonight. Well, we’re short our favorite waitress, so I’d better get back to it. Holler if you need anything.” He clapped Kyle on the shoulder and smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes, then he was gone.
“So, how’ve you been?” Haleigh asked.
“Good. Graduated college forever ago. Traveled for a few years, then settled around here.
“How did you meet Scott, if you don’t mind me asking?”
He shrugged, smiling at the memory. “I decided to get a tattoo on my twenty-fifth birthday. I wanted some big obnoxious visible FU to everyone who didn’t understand me, who I was and that it was supposedly okay to be myself. It’s taking me a while to learn that last part. I hadn’t actually come out to my parents, or anyone else in the family, but all of the snide comments they made about ‘people like that’ were enough to set my teeth on edge. S
cott, thankfully, talked me out of the big pirate ship with naked girls on it. I ended up finding a place to be myself, a lover I hadn’t been counting on, friends that don’t judge me and a job I love. Not much more I could ask for.” He took a swig from his frosty glass. “I’d always hoped to see you again though. I’m sorry I bailed on you after high school.”
She stared at her glass for a minute before looking up at him. “Why didn’t you talk to me? Did I say something mean or hateful, because if I ever did I apolo—”
“It wasn’t that,” he admitted, grasping his beer with both hands to keep from reaching for her. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I couldn’t come up with what to say, or how to tell you who I really was.”
“Then what? Was it me? You just didn’t want to talk to me?”
He fisted his hair. “It wasn’t you. It was everything. I was scared to come out to you, it freaked me out something hardcore.”
She relaxed, squeezing his wrist. “No time like the present. I’m all ears.” He threaded his fingers through hers and curled them over her small hand. “I want to listen, Kyle. Not what you think I want to know. I’m made of stronger stuff than most people give me credit for.”
He squeezed lightly, holding on, not wanting to lose her warmth. “I knew I liked guys growing up, but my parents are…yeah, uppity. Nothing was good enough. Having a gay son? Having a coming-out party wasn’t going to happen for me. So I held it all in and left as soon as I graduated. Don’t know which of us was happier I was gone, me or them.”
“I’m sure your sisters missed you though. Did you at least stay in touch with them?”
He shook his head, feeling like an asshole. “Not really. I’d talk to them at the holidays but that was about it. I shut them both out because I didn’t want to be reminded of being the black sheep. I’d had quite enough of my parents reminding me I wasn’t ever going to be what they wanted me to be.”
“I get that. Parents can be wrong about things. They’re only human, or at least that’s what I tell myself over and over again. Each time I’m not perfect enough for Mother.”
“God that’s right. I forgot I was preaching to the choir about sucky parents. How’s the old battleaxe anyways?”
She laughed at his usage of the nickname he’d used behind Mrs. Grace’s back for years. “Just as starched, polished and rigid as always. Never a hair out of place. No signs of actual use on her clothes. They wouldn’t dare show a crease or mark.”
“God forbid.” Kyle shuddered in mock horror.
There were very few friends with whom you could be separated for almost ten years and pick up right where they left off. Haleigh was absolutely one of those rare treasures.
“Would you like to dance?” jumped out of his mouth then shriveled his balls when her mouth fell into a tiny “O”. “Or not. We could just—”
“I’d love to,” raced across the table to him and sank inside, warming him from the inside out.
He stood, never releasing her hand for fear she might disappear. The dance floor was crowded, but that was fine with him. A slow song was on and he held her close, relishing the contact. She smelled like lavender and honey and he breathed in her scent, trying not to let his hard-on brush against her.
“I wish you would have told me everything sooner,” she mumbled with her cheek against his chest. “I never would have judged you.”
“I remember your face when you saw me kissing Scott. You were shocked. You tried to cover it, but I could tell. God, what you must think of me…” He retreated a tiny bit, giving her enough room to jab him in the pec with her short-nailed finger.
“Kyle Anthony Muse!”
Only Haleigh could scold him with his full name. His mother couldn’t, not even growing up, but this pint-sized girl had always been able to say it in a way that snagged his attention, and he wanted to do anything to make her happy. He stared at her and couldn’t have been more surprised at what came out of her mouth.
“How dare you assume what I’m thinking? Has it been so long you don’t remember what I promised you? What we promised each other? That we would always be there. That we would be friends until the day we died. We would look out for each other forever, because neither of us had anyone else we wanted that from. I would have supported you no matter if you’d told me you wanted to audition for the Ice Capades, or become a professional Jell-O wrestler. You were my best friend and I never would have deserted you. I was standing in that tattoo parlor because I had an appointment. I couldn’t have fathomed you were there so yes, I was shocked to see you, but not because you were kissing jerkfa—I mean Scott. I was stunned because I couldn’t imagine what you would assume of me being there.”
He was silent trying to wrap his mind around what she said. “So you aren’t disappointed with me?”
“I’m sad you didn’t trust me well enough to talk to me. I’m angry you reasoned I would desert you. You’re not some serial killer, Kyle. You don’t gun down elderly people in the park for sport. You like guys. Well, so do I. That doesn’t make me a disappointment. The same goes for you.”
He tried to kick-start his brain but it took a minute. “Wait. Why would you being there be a bad thing?”
She cocked her eyebrow as if the answer were obvious. “I wasn’t exactly there to borrow a cup of sugar.”
He gave her the only answer he could.
He kissed her.
The shock of his mouth on hers froze her in place. He palmed her cheeks, expertly opening her lips, coaxing them wide enough to slip his tongue inside. He tasted her, feeling her exhale roughly. She tried to resist, then sighed, tentatively sliding her tongue against his. She whimpered and stood taller to get closer to his mouth. Blood pumped through his head and along his spine before zinging up to fill his painfully erect dick.
He jerked her head back by the hair at the nape of her neck, fighting to rein in his arousal.
Haleigh blinked up at him. “I’m sure I heard…you correct and you’re gay…right? ’Cause that felt like more than…a simple hi-how-are-ya.”
“You’ve always been different for me. No other female ever raised my sail. But you? Yeah. It was hard.”
“What was hard?” she asked with a swallow.
The mental image of being buried in her mouth when she did that sent his libido through the damn roof.
He grabbed her wrist, tugging it between their lower bodies, pressing her palm against his throbbing cock. He was thankful there were enough people around. No one else but the two of them knew what was happening. “To be friends with you. To fight the attraction. It wasn’t fair to you.”
She shivered, moving closer, trapping their hands. “Shouldn’t that have been my choice? I wasn’t a child any more than you were, Kyle. We were so connected. Close. Like family.” She said it like a hundred years had passed, and he ran his thumb over her wrist. “So much has changed.”
“Not the important things. We both had crappy home lives growing up, proving affluence doesn’t automatically mean you’re being taken care of. We like tattoo shops and piercings.” She laughed, just like he hoped she would. “Scott told me what happened at Inkfluence.”
“Oh God. I’m so sorry. I have no excuse. What came over me, it…I—”
He kissed her again, consuming her moan when it slipped free. “Don’t apologize. The only thing I’m upset about is the fact I wasn’t there, and that’s my fault, not yours. Not Scott’s.”
“But you’re his boyfriend, and he…and then I… I must have lost my mind in that room.”
“I’ll tell you this. He’s never done that with anyone in the shop before. Other than me, and that’s only if I beg for it.”
“Then shouldn’t you hate me for what we did? I’m glad he told you,” she added quickly. “I was mortified after it happened and ran out. I was sure you were going to be so angry you’d never want to talk to me again, and that I’d blown any kind of connection we could still have. I wondered if that was why you asked me here tonight. To yell at me
. I didn’t mean to do anything behind your back, and I was so embarrassed for…”
“What?” He moved close to her ear. “Coming?”
She glanced at the couples surrounding them, making sure no one else stood close enough to hear, then nodded.
“Had you never come before? At twenty-seven I can’t get my brain to process that.”
She moved against his body, which suited him just fine. “I thought I had. Really. But it wasn’t anything like that. As soon as Scott put his mouth on my… That was totally different. What you must think of me…”
Kyle couldn’t help but grin. She’d used the same words he had earlier.
“I’m still mad at myself for it, and embarrassed. Why did he do it?”
“He didn’t want you to suffer so he took care of you.” She scowled and he massaged her temples, kissing her softly. “And your moan when you saw us kissing? It was fucking hot.”
She hid her face against his chest, but he didn’t want her to hide. Not from him. He tipped her chin up and kissed her again. Nothing more than a quick, intimate union, but her pretty brown eyes twinkled, making his heart swell.
“Why do you keep kissing me?”
“I can’t help myself.”
They swayed to the music for a few measures in silence then she said, “You said you had to beg for it. Why would you have to beg?”
He brushed his thumb over her bottom lip, stalling for time, considering what and how much he should reveal. He decided honesty was the only option and he leaned in close to her ear. “He is my Dom, and I am his submissive. He dominates me in the bedroom, or the office at the shop if the mood strikes him, because that’s what does it for both of us. We’re equals everywhere else.” She didn’t pause, or pull away. He decided to see that as a good sign. “There’s this place—”
Another guy on the dance floor elbowed Kyle in the ribs, jostling both of them.
“Hey, sorry man, didn’t watch where we were dancing.”
“No problem.”
The other couple danced away, but more couples moved closer. Kyle snagged Haleigh’s arm and moved off to a corner.
Haleigh's Ink Page 7