The Hands

by Andrea Speed, A. B. Gayle, Jessie Blackwood, J. J Levesque, Katisha Moreish

  “Oh good, you’re awake,” Flynn said, sitting up in the armchair. He could have slept in the bed, but frankly he felt weird about it. He felt weird about everything right now. “I was afraid I was gonna hafta get some adrenaline to inject into your heart or something.”

  Ignoring the fact that the sound of Flynn’s voice was just about murder at that moment, he turned towards it and pried one eye open. “Why’d I need that?” Short sentences were good. Contractions, very useful. He attempted to push himself up but either his limbs didn’t want to cooperated or he just unconsciously decided it wasn’t a good idea.

  “Ah, yeah. You don’t remember anything at all, do you?” Flynn stood up and stretched, working the kinks out of his back. He must have been sitting too long, as his butt was kind of numb. “Well, someone slipped you a roofie last night, probably some form of E. How are you feeling now?”

  Remember? Aiden frowned and tried, but it hurt, so he gave up. “No, I don’t... I think.” He managed to flop onto his side and looked up at Flynn. “Roofie? E? Where the hell was I? I wouldn’t take that...”

  “Please note I said slipped. You came to visit me at the club last night, and I guess some guy thought you were as hot as I do. Only he figured you wouldn’t be in the mood unless he got you high as fuck.” Flynn then remembered Aiden probably needed all the water he could get, and went into the bathroom to get him a glass from the tap.

  “I wouldn’t have been in the mood. I don’t... remember the club.” He frowned, struggling to think, and was upset that he couldn’t remember. This wasn’t like him. He had a good memory. “I think I remember getting there... maybe...” Did he take his car? “How did I get home?”

  “I put you in a cab.” He came out of the bathroom and handed Aiden the glass of water. Damn if he didn’t look rough. “You want some aspirin, some Excedrin? I probably have some if you don’t.”

  “There’s Motrin in my cabinet... it’s all I can take...” He took the glass from Flynn and downed half of it. He was thirsty as hell, but the water was cool and felt good going down. He sighed softy. “At least tell me it’s not Monday.”

  “No, I don’t think so.” Flynn went and retrieved the Motrin. As he was opening the bottle, he asked, “Why is Motrin all you can take?”

  “It’s the only thing that has ever worked, and Excedrin makes me sick.” Aiden held out his hand, estimating the pain. He could start with three, so he asked for it and as he did, he had a brief moment of clarity. “Shit, I forgot about Dante!”

  “I took him walkies this morning. Well, a while ago. And I gave him some food. I know that much. I once owned a cat, and I had a hamster for maybe a week. I’m responsible and everything.” Flynn waited until he was back in the bathroom, putting the Motrin away, before he smirked at his own bullshit. Responsible, him? Yeah, right, good one. He had several exes who would have a good chuckle at that.

  “Thank you for dealing with him. I really appreciate it...” He sat up, swallowed the pills with water and set the glass on the table beside him. “Did I... do anything stupid last night?”

  “You mean besides the football team gang bang?” He grinned at Aiden, just because he liked the horror on his face. “Kidding. Haven Falls doesn’t have a football team, does it? What would they be called if they did? The Roughriders? The Wankers? The Leather Daddys?” He was on a tangent and he knew it, so Flynn reluctantly pulled himself back to the matter at hand. How much was he going to tell Aiden? “You got a little frisky with me ... and a couple guys at the club. But nothing came of it, don’t worry.”

  “Oh God...” Aiden buried his face in his hands, humiliated. “How frisky do you mean?” With Flynn it was one thing, but anyone else? Just no.

  “A bit ... grabby. One guy was about to punch you out for macking on his boyfriend before I got you out of Steele. But no one was hurt, and I bet nobody remembers, so don’t worry about it.”

  “I don’t remember but knowing about it is bad...” He looked up at Flynn and frowned, rubbing his forehead. “Why were you in the chair?”

  Flynn shrugged. “Didn’t want to disturb you.” Such a half-assed lie he was ashamed of himself. Before Aiden picked up on it, he quickly added, “C’mon, get up, I’ll make you some scrambled eggs and toast. If you’re really good, I won’t burn anything.”

  The thought of eating made him feel sick, but he pushed that away because the sight of Flynn cooking for him was definitely an interesting thought. Somehow he got his arms and legs to cooperate and pushed himself out of bed. He didn’t question his state of undress. Flynn must have handled that, too. “I promise, I’ll be really good.”

  “Oh, don’t be too good. You’re more fun kinda bad.” Flynn didn’t bother to say that all he could could was pretty much scrambled eggs and toast. Now he was an expert at nuking things, but for some reason most people didn’t think that was “cooking”. Snobs.

  ****

  Breakfast wasn’t really that bad, and he allowed Dante the rare treat of what he couldn’t finish. Dante loved it. After some time, the Motrin kicked in and he felt much better. A shower was great, too. It helped clear the leftover fuzz out of his head.

  “I’m going to take Dante for a jog,” he announced as he tugged on his shoes. Glancing over his shoulder at Flynn he smiled brightly. “You want to come with us?”

  Flynn wondered if this was a joke. Aiden joking? Well, stranger things had happened. “Oh my yes. Wait ‘til I get my Lieutenant Dangle short shorts on, and then I’ll put on my cleats so I can aerate lawns on the way. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Aid, but I’m not really the jogging type. I’ll run if you chase me with a chainsaw, but that’s about it.”

  Aiden started to pout, but the shortening of his name caught his attention. Aid? That was really cute... Not that he would tell Flynn that. So he smiled instead. “All right, fine. Maybe next time.”

  “Sure,” he agreed, smiling. Of course he meant “not a chance in hell”, but far be it for to crush his dreams right now.

  “Will you be here when I get back?”

  The fact that he asked that sort of surprised him. Was he giving off antsy vibes or something? The fact that he was antsy he blamed on coffee, even though he hadn’t that much. “Sure, if you want me to be.”

  “I do.” Checking his shoes to make sure they were laced, he felt the heat rise in his cheeks as he admitted, “I like having you around.”

  Flynn smiled, but felt his heart plummet into his stomach. Oh god, this poor man. What was he doing to him? Flynn couldn’t believe what a fucking bastard he was. “I like being around you too. Makes me feel classy.”

  “I don’t see why it would.” Aiden whistled and Dante came trotting over. After hooking on his leash, he leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to Flynn’s lips. “See you soon, then.”

  “See you. Don’t grab any crotches I wouldn’t.” He had to tease Aiden where he could. Otherwise, where was the fun?

  Aiden grabbed his keys on the way out and shook his head, amused. Dante was eager to go, and he owed it to him for a nice, long jog. And after last night, his body felt like he needed it as well.

  ****

  Savannah sat at the counter, leaning against her hand as she typed in an order. She had spoken briefly on the phone with Asher Rose, just as a formality of course, to check on Chase and he had been cleared. She expected him to move in any time, and frankly, she couldn’t wait. Having someone else around was going to be exciting. Not that she had any delusions that they would be best friends, of course not, but just having a presence in her house would be better than this solitary existence.

  Flynn knew he hadn’t been around the town enough to say for sure - well, the good part of town; somehow he never gravitated towards the good side of anywhere - but the flower shop surprised him. Was this new, or had he just missed it? He opened the glass door, hearing the chime of a little brass bell, and was greeted with controlled explosions of color, the scent of lavender and roses more prevalent than anything else in the sh
op. On his right side there was a cold case with corsages and things of that nature, and on his left was a sort of towering display of decorative branches and tall flowers like hollyhocks and gladiolus. He was glad he didn’t have allergies, because he could see this place making him sneeze his lungs out.

  An orange tabby cat rubbed up against his leg, and he bent over and gave it a pet. It looked chubby and happy. “Don’t you guys usually call bookstores home? His favorite used bookstore in Seattle actually had three resident cats, so there was a discount if you didn’t mind taking home the books with cat fur jackets.

  At the front counter was a blonde woman. “Hey, hi. This your place?”

  Savannah smiled at the man. Was he flustered? Who else would own the place? “Yes, it is.” She would be nice. A customer was a customer after all. “Can I help you with anything?”

  “Hopefully. I was thinking of getting some flowers, a “sorry I’m an asshole” bouquet if you’ve got one.” The garden Aiden had seemed to indicate he liked flowers, but which ones?

  “That’s an interesting way to put it. I’ve heard similar things, but nothing quite as unique. So, what will it be? I have many varieties of flowers. Male or female recipient?”

  “Male. I need a bunch of flowers that say “I know you’re out of my league, but thank you for taking pity on me”. That any help at all?” There were lots of flowers, some he recognized as variations of ones in Aiden’s garden, but would he like to receive them? It was kind of a corny idea, but Aiden seemed to love corny.

  “Wow, that’s pretty harsh. He must be spectacular if he’s taking pity on a hot guy like you,” Savannah said with a wink. “Roses are traditional, a bit cliche to be honest. Why not go with something unique? Perhaps some lilacs and tulips? Or maybe daffodils. My order of orchids has not come in yet, otherwise I would say those. I assume you need these flowers today?” She brought up a new order form.

  “Yeah. See, he’d probably like roses, but if I gave them to him he’d know a florist picked them out.” To be fair, if he presented Aiden with anything besides a handful of trouble, he might not know it was from him. He scratched his head and looked around. “Tulips might be good. I might actually get him tulips.”

  “All right, well why don’t you look around and pick out what you’d like if you want it more personal. I can start taking down some information for our records. Who is this for?”

  “Aiden Parker, hottest teacher in the West.” Flynn looked at the containers of flowers, and found some nice bi-color tulips with ruffled edges. How quaint. He’d probably love these.

  Savannah jerked her head up. Aiden Parker? It couldn’t be. Last she heard, he was back home, living with that jackass Peter and teaching at the Academy or whatever it was. Must be a coincidence, but she had to find out. “Aiden Parker? I knew an Aiden in college who became a teacher. But that was back in New York.”

  Was Aiden from New York? He couldn’t remember. “Was he a hot as hell brunette? With dimples and a tendency to blush at damn near everything?”

  “Oh yeah, Aiden was hot. Pity he was gay, though.” She sighed. All the good ones were gay. “He blushed a lot, yeah. Dimples... I think he did.” She frowned and looked at Flynn. “Does your Aiden teach English? Collect books?”

  Flynn stared at her. Goddamn, how small was this town? “And has a mad posh for decorating things like a ski lodge? Yeah, that’s him. Holy shit, you know him?”

  Savannah let out a squeal of delight. “I can’t believe it! I had no idea he moved here! I just came here a few months ago. What are the odds! Oh my God, I need to visit. It’s been so long!” She laughed at the comment on his house and shook her head. “I don’t know about his decorating skills. When he lived with Peter, that jerk took care of everything. He was the ultimate control freak. Everything in their house - at least as Aiden described it - was black and white contemporary and felt sterile as a hospital. He hated it.”

  “Peter?” Maybe Aiden mentioned him once, but he hadn’t been forthcoming with the details. Although, to be fair, Flynn hadn’t mentioned Jesse or his other assorted troublemaker boyfriends. “So what was he like? I mean, beyond control freak. How long were they together?”

  “Peter, Paul, something like that I think.”

  “Not Mary?”

  “No, not Mary. If I remember right, it was okay at first. They were together maybe two years? I don’t remember how they got together. It may have been in college towards the end. Or the summer after? I don’t know. Aiden was quiet - I’m sure he still is - and wanted someone that was more... assertive I guess you could say. Someone that would get him out of his shell a little. He got that all right. But too much. He was a real asshole and didn’t understand Aiden. He was busy with work, and if you ask me, I wouldn’t doubt it if he cheated on him. But I don’t know. After Aiden took the job with that school we lost touch. Last time we talked, he told me he was exhausted and Peter didn’t understand how difficult it was to be a first year teacher. I told him to move out, but he wanted to give it a try. I guess if he’s here he finally took my advice.”

  “I guess so.” This admission sort of stunned him. Was that why Aiden liked him - he reminded him of assholes past? “He wasn’t ... Peter wasn’t abusive, was he?”

  Savannah frowned. “That I couldn’t tell you. I don’t know. If he was, Aiden wouldn’t talk about it. I’m sure you know that he keeps things inside. He opened up to me about a few things but something like that...” She shook her head then looked startled. “You don’t think... has he shown signs of it?”

  “No, it’s just ... he doesn’t talk about him a lot.” Of course he’d never asked him either, but Flynn felt once he opened that door, Aiden would want to know about his past boyfriends. Which did he start with? The porn actor, the minor league drug dealer, the one who ended up in prison for a bank robbery? So many good guys to choose from. He decided to lean his arms on the counter, and see if he could get her to spill more about Aiden. “So what was he like in college? I’d like to imagine he was a big time partier, but I’m wrong, aren’t I?”

  That caused a loud burst of laughter from Savannah. “Aiden, a partier?” She covered her mouth with her hand. “We got him out a few times, sure, but he was always uncomfortable. He had fun, sure, but it was like he was lost, out of his element. Then again, I suppose it would be awkward going out with your friends when you’re the only one that’s single.” She shrugged and typed in the information for Aiden that she found in the phonebook. Look at that, there it was.

  “He must have had college boyfriends. You’re not telling me Pete was his first one, are you?”

  “Nah, he went on a few date, but nothing overly serious. One lasted a while, forget his name, but it didn’t work out. They were both too quiet and reserved.”

  “Wow. He’s changed. I mean, no one’s ever used the words quiet or reserved to describe me.”

  “Well, he shouldn’t be with someone who could be his twin. He needs some excitement.” Savannah smiled. “So, what’s your name? I need to put your information in.”

  That shouldn’t have been a stumper, but he had to think about it a second. “Flynn. Flynn Archer. Need me to spell it? There’s a silent Q.”

  Savannah laughed. “I think I got it.” She put in the information. “Did you want the flowers delivered or did you want to take them?”

  “Uh, I guess I’ll take them now.” What time was it? He looked at his wrist, realized he still didn’t have a watch, and looked around the shop. There was a clock on the wall behind the counter, and it looked like he had some time before Aiden came back from his jog. Not a lot, but he could probably make it. “Should I say hello for you?”

  “Tell him an old friend said hello and will be stopping by soon.” She smiled brightly. “It was very nice to meet you, Flynn. Stop in again for a visit.”

  “Sure will. I’ll probably need a lot of “sorry I’m an asshole” bouquets, so keep them in stock.” He paid for the paper wrapped collection of tulips, and gave t
he cat a pet before he left. Which would Aiden appreciate more - the flowers, or news that an old friend had moved to town?

  Flynn guessed he’d find out soon enough.

  ****

  Aiden turned the corner, following Dante around a low stone wall. The dog was full of energy, but who could blame him? Even after a fast jog, he’d been forced into a full out run down a wooded path. Sweat beaded on his forehead and he wiped it away. Dante slowed to a walk, pulling up alongside Aiden and whimpered softly.

  “What’s wrong, boy? Finally tired? You want to head home?” Aiden patted his dogs head and turned, but Dante wouldn’t budge. The whimper turned to a low growl and Aiden froze. That was a new sound. “Dante, what’s up?”

  A branch cracked from the path up ahead and Aiden took a step back. Visions of horror movie monsters quickly filtered through his mind and he forced them out. He was in the woods; it was probably a squirrel.

  Dante’s growl grew and he gave a short, sharp bark as a man stepped from the foliage. Aiden’s heart froze. Yeah, okay, he was sketchy looking, and it was definitely time to go. Tall, large, and nothing you wanted to run into in an alley or secluded forest path. “Come on, pup. Let’s go home.”

  “Why are you running off?” the man asked, leaning against a tree. “I was just going for a walk, is all.”

  “Ah, right.” Aiden stared at him. Something inside highly doubted he was just strolling along alone in the woods.

  “I’m sorry to have interrupted your walk. That’s a nice dog you have there. You live around here?”

  How to answer that... he definitely didn’t want this man following him home, but what if he was just going for a walk? Aiden hesitated. No, too many weird things seemed to be happening. What if this was the guy that had drugged him last night? Dante pulled at the leash, straining forward and showing his teeth.

  “Sorry, we should get going. He doesn’t take to people very well.”

  “He seems very friendly. Smart dog, isn’t he?”