I roll my eyes but oblige. I'm starving. I never really ate anything once I landed last night unless I count that handful of pretzels I had at the bar. I drank plenty, but somehow I'm guessing scotch doesn't play much of a role in the FDA's nutritional guidelines.
Cruz takes me to a trendy little breakfast place in just outside of the city. I load up on a stack of chocolate chip pancakes, and Cruz has the works… Three-egg omelet, bacon, home fries, and fruit salad. The two of us throw back several pounds of food, feel more than satisfied in our bellies, and walk around the city for a bit.
It's as though we've known each other for a lot longer than one day, that's for sure. Everywhere we turn, Cruz has something interesting to say about this area that I never noticed even though I grew up here. He has a way of noticing details about architecture, the way streets are laid out, and how businesses are situated in the metro region. I'm guessing he's pretty good at what he does and I'm still not quite sure what that is. He mentioned something about working real estate development, but I get the sense he's in transition.
I've actually always had an interest in real estate myself, but he sure as fuck doesn't need to know that.
"You do realize that I grew up here, don't you?" I say.
He looks me up and down as though he's grading me. "Sure, man, but I'm obsessed with Boston. I love everything about it, and that means the good and the bad. I want to own this city someday."
I purse my lips. "A little arrogant, no? Besides, you definitely owned part of the city in your bedroom this morning."
Cruz laughs, again. "I don't think the Boston City Council would consider your tight little hole to be an official part of our city. But I can check with them next time I meet with them."
We both laugh and our arms naturally link up as we walk further down Auburn Street and look through all of the different shop windows. Why is this so fun? How the fuck did this happen? One minute we fucking hate each other, the next minute we're having mind-blowing sex, and now this. Most importantly, how long can this last?
I can't predict exactly, but I know one thing, it can't last very long.
"Cruz?" I hear a female voice say from behind us. I turn and see a woman pushing a baby stroller. She's holding hands with a toddler. Apart from her looking a little haggard, probably from taking care of two small kids, she's well put together; she dresses really nice, and I'd say she'd be considered pretty hot by most heterosexual men.
I look over at Cruz, and he looks like he just saw a fucking ghost. "Jill? What are you doing here?" he says awkwardly. I've never heard him sound so odd and weak.
"Um, I live here. Remember? I told you I was getting a place in Watertown the last time we spoke," she says.
He looks down at the baby stroller, and at the little blond-haired boy whom she's holding hands with. Cruz's voice is no longer the light, carefree voice that he's had all morning with me. "Are you babysitting or something?" he says.
The woman crinkles her nose and holds the little boy's hand up. "No, these little hands belong to me."
Cruz smiles, only it's so obvious that it’s fake, even a store mannequin has a more genuine smile than he does right now. "That's such great news. I'm so happy for you. Who's the lucky man?" he says.
Jill's phone starts to ring. "I should take that," she says before answering his question. I look over at Cruz as he nods and tries to act all smooth. She mumbles something about how she and Cruz should catch up sometime but that she has to go right now. The woman leaves, and he stuffs his hands in his pockets as he bites down on his lower lip, the light in his eyes now officially out.
"What was that about?" I say, trying to break him from his trance.
Cruz doesn't look at me as he says, "What was what about?" He starts walking at a stupidly fast pace, and I find myself having a hard time keeping up. I reach for his arm and try to stop him. "Cruz, slow down man. What’s going on?"
He jerks his arm away from my hand. His eyes look dark and mean. It's definitely not the same Cruz I was just goofing around with over a stack of pancakes, or the same man who was giving me a tour of the city I grew up in, but somehow making it all feel so brand new to me.
He looks at me and scoffs. "What the fuck are you doing? Don't grab my arm like that. Look, I have shit to do today. I told Gordon I'd keep an eye on you, that's it. That's all this is. Just make sure you come back tonight, got it? I promised your father that much." He raises an eye and waits for my response. It's as though he thinks I'm just going to agree with him and move on with my day, rolling with the punches that he's throwing at my fucking face right now for no apparent reason.
"Are you for real right now? What's the matter with you? Holy Jekyll and Hyde. Who was that woman, and what did she do to your brain?" I say, half serious and half still trying to de-escalate the situation.
Inside, I feel like I just got kicked in the stomach by a heavy boot.
He’s clearly not in the mood for de-escalating anything. He pulls his phone out and starts fiddling with it. "I have shit to do. I don't know what else to tell you. Our little fling is over, time to get back to work. I'm sure you can kill some time today, doing whatever it is you do."
Okay, now I'm pissed. "Jesus man, you're being an asshole. You can't have fun for very long, can you? Thanks for the shitty tour of the city," I say and then storm off.
I refuse to look back, and I'm definitely not going back to his place tonight. Fuck him. What a dick. Whatever set him off in that mood, I don't give a shit. He didn't need to take it out on me. I realize that we're not an item, I fucking get that. I didn't need his messed up reminder. It's not as though I expected much from him, just a little respect after we hooked up, that's all.
Is that too much to ask? I guess with Cruz it is… No worries, I'll never ask that of him again. In fact, I'll make sure I never even see him again.
Cruz
I park my ass down on a bench outside of a Starbucks to try and calm down. What the hell was I thinking? Seeing Jill like that…
Shit. She fucking told me she didn't want to have kids, and then she actually had the fucking nerve to tell me she couldn't have kids, and that a doctor even told her she wasn't fertile. Seeing her like that, with her own family so quickly, that just screwed me all up.
And now I feel like shit about what I said to Reese. It's not like Reese and I are going to take whatever spark we have anywhere serious, meaning anywhere beyond this weekend, but still, he didn't deserve the things I said to him.
I might actually throw up.
Out of the corner my eye, I see a couple of people dressed in business attire walk out of the Starbucks with large iced coffees. I recognize one of the voices immediately. Please, not now. It's Bridget Vega, the bitch who stirred the most shit up about me over at Kline.
Bridget and I lock eyes, and for whatever reason, she couldn't look any less surprised to see me. "How are things, Cruz?" she says, handing a folder to one of her corporate clones. She looks at him, or should I say, down at him, considering he's about 4 inches shorter than her. "Damn, forgot to grab a yogurt. Would you mind, Eric? Mixed berry. " Eric tucks his tail between his legs and waddles back into the coffee shop to fetch Bridget her yogurt. Mixed berry.
I look at her and shake my head. "Barking orders on a Saturday, Bridget?" I say.
She looks me up and down and smiles. "For those of gainfully employed, work doesn’t stop just because it’s a Saturday. But for the record, I don't need to listen to your bullshit anymore, Cruz. I thought it would be nice if we could be cordial, but it appears as though that's not possible."
I think about all the things I could say to her. How she fucked me over and convinced the key players over at Kline that I should be let go. She refused to listen to me about not bullying that non-profit youth center to move out just so we could expand on their lot. I'll admit though, she kicked my ass in the boardroom; I'll give her that. She knew how to convince highly educated people to choose wrong over right. "Tell everyone at Kline that I
said hey," I simply say back to her.
She smirks. "Will do. I'm sure they'd love to hear that." Eric comes out with her yogurt and goes to hand it to her but she simply waves him off. Typical Bridget. Professional bitch. "It was great seeing you, Cruz. I walked by you earlier, but you looked busy. I didn't want to interrupt," she says, her lips smiling slightly.
Obviously, she saw me with Reese. And maybe even with Jill. Maybe she saw my meltdown because that was only minutes before I ended up on this bench. None of that matters though, she doesn't know what I'm up to, and she doesn't know who Reese is. Still, who knows what she's capable of; I don't even like the thought of her knowing where I buy my groceries, let alone anything else. She's vicious and has a knack for taking people down. The one thing I know for sure is that I will never let that bitch take me down again.
I go back to my condo and spend the rest of my day going crazy. It's as though the moment I picked up Reese off the asphalt outside of that bar last night, my life has turned upside down. Amazing what one day can do.
I've been trying to focus on my development proposal for city council, but I feel so distracted. It doesn't help that this is going to be harder than balls getting this proposal passed. But the way I see it, having someone like Gordon back me financially makes a very big statement. If he believes in me, they're bound to believe in me too. Without Gordon's backing, I'm shit to them.
As I struggle to stay sane throughout the day, at first thinking about seeing Jill with her new kids kept eating me up inside. And it really didn't help matters, don't get me wrong. But that's not what's at the heart of my agony. Telling Reese off like that, it just isn’t sitting well with me. I honestly don't even know why I can’t let this go, I’ve blown up at plenty of people before and never given it two thoughts.
We had really great sex, but that was it. Right?
I told him the truth, which was that I had only one job, to keep his ass out of trouble this weekend and that once that mission gets accomplished, he and I can both move on with our lives.
Then why do I keep feeling so shitty for how I handled things with him? It's so out of character for me to react like this. I'm not saying I'm some cold-hearted idiot who feels no remorse or compassion, it just usually takes me a lot longer to give this much of a shit about someone I hardly know.
Not only that but now I have another problem. Where the hell even is Reese? The chances of him coming back to stay at my place tonight are slim to none after how I behaved. But if I'm being even more honest, I start to realize that I want to find out where he's at for another reason altogether…
I kind of just feel like running into him, and that alone is freaking me out inside.
I shut down my laptop and throw on a pair of gym shorts and a t-shirt to work out in. I need to blow off some steam. Luckily, there's a gym on the first floor of my condo association. I take the elevator down and find myself pulling out my phone to see if I can figure out where he might be.
I don't like that he's out there somewhere, hurt and pissed off. I know I'm overreacting and shouldn't be this invested in Reese's feelings or opinions about me, but I am. I make up my mind… the only way to resolve this issue is to find him and clear everything up so that both of us can move on with our weekend, and our lives.
I do a search of Reese Davenport on Facebook. Ugh, he's already been tagged in three photos today. I click on a picture of him at a gay bar I've heard of but never had the balls to go to… The Rainbow Lounge. It doesn't get any gayer than that place from what I've heard. I expand the picture of Reese standing in line, smiling with his arms wrapped around a bunch of other dudes.
My stomach tightens when I see another picture of him inside the club, with a beer in his hand, and two other guys with their arms around his shoulders.
It's official, I'm mentally cooked. I'm completely disturbed by the pics of Reese out having a good time like this, and that in and of itself is pathetic on my part. The elevator door opens and the woman who I was riding the elevator with gets out. Not me, I stay in and watch as the doors close me in. I press the button for my floor because that's what idiots do when they lose their minds… they decide to skip the gym, get cleaned up, get dressed, and go after someone they hardly know.
Having sex with Reese was my first big mistake. Treating him like shit was my second big mistake. And now, not letting him go could prove to be the biggest mistake of my life.
Reese
Damn, it feels good to be out here with Bryce and Liam. Haven't seen them since last Christmas. They're not my closest friends, but they're good guys and we always have fun when we get together. Liam likes to flirt with me every time, even though he knows he doesn't stand a chance of ever getting in my pants. I'm all for a good time, but Liam spends more time on Grindr than any gay man alive. Not exactly the kind of guy I want to give my body over to. Then again, look what I did with Cruz.
Great, I promised myself I wouldn't bother thinking about him anymore after that little temper tantrum he threw in Watertown earlier today. If only it was that easy and I could actually stop thinking about him for more than ten consecutive seconds. I've tried everything to get him off my mind... a freezing cold shower, a five-mile run, hanging out at Quincy beach for several hours baking in the sun…
I just can't let go of what happened between us in his bedroom. It wasn't just the sex, either. Fine, the sex was off the charts incredible. Fucking unbelievably amazing. So amazing that I've already jerked off twice today just thinking about it.
But it was more than that. The way he touched me after we both had our orgasms, I never felt anything like it. The strength in his hands, the warmth coming from his body. The connection we had. I felt so at relaxed just lying next to him. Even telling him about my father felt good, getting some of that crap off my chest. Cruz is a great listener. Unfortunately, he's not a very good talker.
Hence, his explosion for no good reason. Everything was going great this morning until he just randomly blew up at me after breakfast. Even though I felt something real between us for a moment or two, it doesn't matter. I don't care how good our sex was, or how good our time was after we hooked up. I can't deal with people whose moods shift so suddenly like that.
So now, it's time for a little fun. It could be my only hope of getting him out of my head. And fun is exactly what Liam and Bryce are into. Pure, one hundred percent unadulterated fun. Lucky for us, no place breeds more fun than The Rainbow Lounge. Any guy with a hole in his ass can get laid here if he wants to. That's not what I want, just saying…
Bryce hands Liam and me a shot of Fireball. "Cheers! This one's for Reese coming home! Boston, motherfuckers!" Bryce says, draining his shot glass down his throat in one fell swoop. It’s my turn as I throw down the sweet, cinnamon-flavored hard alcohol into the back of my throat. I welcome the warmth it brings to my chest, a reprieve from the tension I've been feeling all day because of everything that went down.
See, only another ten seconds have passed and I'm bringing him up again.
Bryce slicks his hair back and grabs me by the wrist. "Come on, Justin, let's go show this lounge what your dance moves are made of." He’s been calling me Justin, after Justin Bieber, since the sixth grade, mainly because I can def rip it up on the dance floor. The minute I was old enough to know that Justin Bieber was a cheese ball, I tried to shake that nickname, but I couldn't break Bryce's habit by that point. And besides, who doesn't secretly love the Biebs?
"Really? After only one shot? You know I need at least three or four drinks to get loose," I say.
"I'll get us another round of Fireball. You boys go find us some prime meat out there. It's summer, I want thick muscles, dark tans, and low IQ's. The dumber the hotter tonight!" Liam says as he smacks me on my ass as a half-joke.
Even though I know he wants to fuck me too, he’ll always be just a friend, even if he’s not too thrilled with that reality. But ultimately, he respects the fact that I won't let him get inside my pants. Not that Liam isn't a goo
d-looking guy, because he's got plenty of looks. Both of these guys are good-looking dudes.
I'm not totally against one-night stands, but I try not to have them with other guys, like Liam and Bryce, who just so happen to have one-night stands every fucking night. I also try really hard not to hook up with friends, even ones I'm not super close with because I've seen what that can do to any friendship.
I laugh and say, "Dumb, tanning booth meatheads fresh out of Planet Fitness, sounds like a good agenda. We're on it."
Bryce leads me to the dance floor by my arm. I let him have his way with my arm until we hit the dance floor. I break free and start to let loose as an Ariana Grande dance remix pumps through the club.
I see Liam coming towards us with our shots. Bryce screams out something stupid, something about fresh cock and ball casseroles, and we all laugh like three idiots. Ah, I'm finally starting to let down and chill the fuck out.
Liam goes to hand me my shot, but an arm comes out of nowhere and swats his hand down. The shot glass falls to the dance floor and shatters at our feet. I look up and see him, Cruz, fuming at me.
WTF?
Liam and Bryce are plenty strong and they're both into MMA shit, so there's no question the two of them can put up a pretty good fight against most guys. But generally speaking, they try to stay out of trouble unless they get pushed too far.
And the minute Cruz shows up, and knocks down that shot glass, the look in their eyes has me wondering if this is one of those rare examples where they got pushed over the line. Both of them have their hands clenched in white-knuckled fists. "What the fuck, dude? What's your problem?" Bryce says, getting up in Cruz's face. The people around us start to separate from us, sensing a fight that's about to break out.
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