“I found Angelo,” Clay said to Hunter and Dex with a chuckle as he walked back into the kitchen still carrying the full cup of coffee he had intended to give to Marlowe. “I think I need another one of these.” He placed the coffee on the counter and shook his head. “Or not. Maybe I need something stronger especially if I see those two naked again.”
Dex jumped up and headed for Marlowe’s room. “Naked? No freaking way.” Clay and Hunter followed behind her. Clay smiled; he knew exactly what they were going to see. Truth be told, he wanted to see all that glorious flesh again. The two of them together was absolutely beautiful.
“Holy fuck!” Dex exclaimed. Clay rounded the door frame just in time to see both Angelo and Marlowe jolt awake at the intrusion. The look of horror on both their faces was almost comical. He felt a giggle coming, and he slapped his hand over his mouth to stop it from escaping.
“Seriously what the fuck are you doing Marlowe?” Dex admonished. “He’s straight!” “Leave them alone.” Clay smiled. “It doesn’t matter who you love as long as you are loving someone. Isn’t that right angel boy?”
r r r
Angelo jumped up and grabbed his jeans off the floor. Pulling them on he glared at Dex. “Leave him alone.” He threw Marlowe’s jeans to him. “Get up Silver; I’m taking you out for breakfast.”
“No,” Marlowe said quietly. “I think you should go home, Angelo.” Angelo stood there dumbfounded as Marlowe stood and walked past them all and locked himself in the bathroom. Angelo rounded on Dex. “What the fuck, Dex?”
“What? Since when have you decided to turn gay?” “We were just drunk last night. This doesn’t—” Angelo started but was soon interrupted.
“You’ve still got come on you.” She pointed to his chest. “I’d say that does make you…” “I! Am! Not! Gay!” Angelo snapped loudly and forcefully in embarrassment just as Marlowe opened the door to the bathroom.
Angelo’s eyes closed blocking out the sight of the tears in Marlowe’s eyes. He didn’t want to see the hurt and betrayal that was there. When he opened them again Marlowe was gone. Pushing past Dex and Hunter he found Marlowe in the kitchen pulling on his singlet before getting comforted by Clay. Walking over he stood close to Marlowe’s back. His fingertips reaching out to rest softly against Marlowe’s waist.
“I’m sorry, Silver, I didn’t mean…”
Marlowe shook his head. “Just go Angelo…please.” “Silver?” Angelo’s fingers gripped Marlowe’s singlet.
“GO!” Marlowe turned and screamed at him. “Just fuck off and leave me alone.” He pushed against Angelo’s chest. “You said it yourself. You’re not gay. So leave me the hell alone.”
Angelo stepped back; his whole body was shaking as he shook his head in denial. Marlowe couldn’t mean that. Something exploded in his chest as he turned and walked out the door.
r r r
The moment Angelo walked away Marlowe dropped to the floor and began sobbing. He had just fucked up the one friendship that meant the world to him. All because he got drunk and couldn’t control himself. He had let Angelo use him. More, he had begged Angelo to use him.
“Mar, come on now. You need to stop crying, you’ll make yourself sick, honey.” Marlowe shook off Dex’s hands as she tried to comfort him. He didn’t want comfort. He wanted to be able to turn back time so that last night had never happened. Go back to before he had so royally screwed everything up.
“Fuck off Dex, I did what you wanted. I cut him loose. Now just leave me alone.”
“Marlowe, he isn’t worth it. Come on baby, you need to get up off the floor.” “He is worth it.” Marlowe sobbed as he felt himself being lifted off the floor. Marlowe felt himself being cradled in Hunter’s arms as they sat on the couch. His tears had trickled off to the occasional shuddering sob.
The sound of the kitchen door opening and slamming had him sitting up, but not really moving far from Hunter. Dex walked back into the room holding a long thin package and handed it to Marlowe.
Marlowe cringed into Hunter’s side and refused to take it. “Throw it way. I don’t want it.” His voice only trembled a little bit. Dex rolled her eyes and tore the wrapping paper off the present, and opening it she gasped. She stared from the present in her hands to Marlowe and back to the present.
“What is it?” Clay gasped as he looked over Dex’s shoulder. “Whoever this freak is he sure knows you Mar.” Dex pulled out a silver bracelet and dangled it from her fingers.
“It matches the necklace that Angelo is wearing,” Dex said curiously. “You don’t think that maybe he is the one doing all this, do you? I mean, he does call you Silver.”
Marlowe shook his head. “It’s not him. He doesn’t want me that way.” Pain ripped through him at the truth in his words.
“He was covered in come, Mar, I think it is obvious that he likes you,” Dex retorted.
Marlowe shook his head. “No, I took advantage of him while he was drunk. You heard him this morning. He is not gay. I have ruined everything.” Tears filled his eyes and spilled down his cheeks.
“What the hell is going on around here?” Gene stormed into the room; he looked pissed. “I have just left a very upset Ange…” he stopped cold when he saw the look on Marlowe’s face. “Well it seems that I am not the only one with an upset person.” He sat on the coffee table and looked at Marlowe. “Talk to me Marlowe.”
“He’s not gay.” Marlowe swallowed, blinking back tears. “Fuck!”
Marlowe watched Gene rub his hand viscously over his face. Clay looked just as confused as Marlowe felt, as Gene, Hunter, and Dex all seemed to exchange looks. What the hell was going on?
“What’s going on?” Clay asked. “There is nothing going on.” Dex and Hunter said at the exact same time while Gene found his watch very interesting all of a sudden.
“I know that look.” Marlowe could see the guilt on all their faces. “Spill it.”
“I think I need to go check on Angelo,” Gene hedged as he stepped towards the door. “Stop!” Marlowe snapped. “You are part of this, whatever this is. So don’t you take another damn step.”
Marlowe moved away from Hunter and went and sat near Clay. “I think you need to tell me the truth right damn now.”
“It’s Clay’s fault,” Gene said as he leant against the doorjamb.
Marlowe turned and looked at Clay who stared at Gene open mouthed and stunned.
“Clay,” Marlowe asked. Clay just shook his head and shrugged.
“I didn’t do anything, I swear to God Mar, I didn’t have anything to do with whatever they did.”
“He gave us the idea though,” Gene said.
“What idea?” Clay demanded.
“Stalking Marlowe.” Dex sighed and sat on the arm of the chair next to Hunter.
“You’re my stalker?” Marlowe felt like a complete idiot. Had this just been a big joke for them? “Why?”
“It wasn’t just me,” Dex said. “We all played a part in it. Tondra told us about Ms. Melanie’s and—” “Wait! Tondra is part of this as well?” Disbelief filled him that they would all play him for a fool.
“No, Tondra told us we were nuts and not to do it.” Hunter admitted.
“But you guys didn’t listen?” Clay asked.
“You could say that.” Hunter blushed.
“I… I…”Marlowe got up and began pacing around the confines of the living room. He stopped and glared at them all. His upset state giving way to pure raw anger. “I can’t believe that you would come up with stalking.” He pointed at Hunter. “You know what I went through when Clay stalked me.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Clay said quietly. “I know.” Marlowe patted his shoulder in passing. He turned his attention back to the other three in the room. “Why would you do this to me? Am I some kind of joke to you all? What about Angelo? Why would you do this to a straight guy, especially when he has told you all that he is straight?”
Gene blew out his breath loudly and said, “Because we have
all seen how he looks at you.”
“He’s right,” Clay said. “That boy is in love with you, and I mean way more than I ever was.”
Marlowe shook his head. “No he isn’t. I have the wrong bits for him.”
“Then explain last night,” Dex said
A deep blush raced across his skin. “I don’t exactly remember last night.”
“So you don’t know who really initiated the um…activities then?” Dex tried not to smile. Marlowe’s blush deepened. “No.”
“What nothing?” Hunter asked.
“Total mind blank, I don’t even remember coming home.” Clay chuckled. “Oh baby, you were on fire last night.” Gene laughed. “They were both pretty pissed.”
“So you don’t even know if you had sex or not?” Clay asked and Marlowe thought he looked a little too interested in the answer.
“Well unless Angelo let me fuck him, which I seriously doubt, then I am ninety per cent sure that no actually fucking took place.” Marlowe wasn’t sure that he liked discussing his sex life this openly. He wasn’t about to tell them that in-fact yes he had let Angelo use him like some toy - that was none of their business. They already thought he was a fuck-up, and even as upset as he was with Angelo right now he knew that he wouldn’t rat Angelo out.
“But how can you be sure?” Dex asked. “Dex...” Marlowe couldn’t believe that she had just asked that. He looked straight into his cousin’s eyes and lied. “I know because my arse isn’t sore. If I had been fucked last night then I would be feeling it today.”
“Really?” Dex asked.
Hunter and Clay chuckled while Gene bit his lip to stop himself from laughing out right. “Really,” Marlowe replied. “Now can we get back to why you three thought it would be a good idea to stalk me?”
“Oh my God,” Clay’s eyes widened in understanding, “this is your attempt at playing match makers.”
“What? No!” Marlowe stared at them all, his anger coming back full force. “You scare the crap out of me to set me up with a straight boy.”
“We’re sorry Mar,” Hunter said and Marlowe could see true regret in his eyes.
“No! Damn it!” He shook with anger. Marlowe knew he had to get out of there, he couldn’t be around them at the moment. “You three just destroyed the best friendship that I have ever had. You say you were setting us up to be together. Then the moment we fall into bed together you come in acting all shocked and demanding answers. Even if what you say is true and he did have some sort of feelings for me…after this morning he has well and truly stepped back into the closet and has locked the door and thrown away the key.”
Marlowe picked up his keys and looked at them one last time. “Next time you all want to help me... don’t!” He picked up the bracelet from the coffee table. “And I’m keeping the damn presents,” he said before he stormed out of the house.
r r r
“Well that didn’t work out quite like we thought it would.” Hunter sighed as he leaned back into the couch. Clay burst out laughing and couldn’t seem to stop. When he finally got himself under control he had tears streaming down his face. “Seriously? Stalking?” Wiping his eyes he grinned. “If you wanted them to get together then you need to make the prize more interesting.”
“Huh?” Gene walked over and sat beside Hunter on the couch.
“If you want Angelo to admit he has ‘feelings’,” he made air quotes, “then you need to make Marlowe more appealing.” “I’m still not getting it.” “Babe, he is saying that to make Mar more appealing, we need to let Angelo see that other guys are interested in Marlowe.” Dex looked at Clay. “That is what you are saying right?”
Clay nodded. He smiled even more when he saw the light dawning in Hunter and Gene’s eyes. “That is exactly what I am saying.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t,” Gene said quietly. “Maybe we have messed with them enough.”
“Where are we going to find guys to hit on Marlowe?” Hunter asked, getting into the spirit of things. “You just leave that up to me, I will call in some favours.” Clay rubbed his hands together in glee. “They will be together for Christmas.”
“Twenty bucks says they aren’t,” Dex retorted. “So we are betting on this now?” Hunter asked, reaching into his pocket for his wallet and pulling out a twenty dollar note. “January fifteenth.”
“Christmas morning.” Clay added a twenty to Hunter’s. “New Year’s Eve.” Gene tossed a twenty onto the pile.
“I still say it is not going to happen.” Dex added her own money. Clay picked up the eighty dollars and folded it and hid it in his wallet. “You are all going to lose.” he grinned as he shoved his wallet back into his pocket.
Gene stood up. “I think I better go and see how Angelo is.”
r r r
Gene knocked on Angelo’s bedroom door before he opened it and walked in. “Hey,” he said as he sat on the side of the bed and patted Angelo on his back. It was obvious that he was still crying from his fight with Marlowe.
Angelo rolled over and looked at him. “Hey.”
“Look Angelo, when you break up with someone there is going to be some kind of hurt, but…”
Angelo interrupted him, “We didn’t break up. I’m not gay.” “I’m not judging you,” Gene said. “Even when a friendship ends, it’s still breaking up…well kind of.” He shrugged. He watched as Angelo blinked rapidly at the tears that had come and filled his eyes. “What happened last night, Angelo? Only you can decide what to do about it. Only you can decide if what happened last night is enough to throw your friendship away.”
“I don’t know what happened last night. One minute we were laying there and the next minute we were naked… it just happened.” A deep blush slowly made its way over Angelo’s face.
“And how do you feel about that? Marlowe seems to think that he took advantage of you. He is very upset about it all.”
Angelo turned and stared at the wall for a moment before answering. “He didn’t. I knew what was happening.”
“Do you think that maybe you might have feelings for Marlowe?” Gene asked.
“I’m not gay. I like Silver, but that way of life is wrong.” “What a crock of shit.” Gene felt disgust run through him. “That, right there, is your father talking.” Standing up he shook his head. “You disappoint me. You’re right! You stay nice and straight. Marlowe deserves better than you. One day some guy is going to come by and snap him right up and make him very happy, because Marlowe deserves to be loved.”
r r r
Angelo watched his uncle walk out of the room. He hated disappointing him, but he was right in saying that Marlowe deserved someone that could love him. Even though they had fought, he still wanted his best friend to be happy.
Why the hell was he still crying, he thought as he wiped the tears from his eyes. The look that Marlowe had on his face when he walked out of the bathroom still cut him deep. He hated knowing that he had put all that pain in his best friend’s eyes. He needed to work out how to fix it and get their friendship back on track. Gene was right. What happened last night wasn’t worth destroying their friendship over. But he wasn’t sure he could change his whole entire life for it.
Chapter Six
Two days later Marlowe was determined that he could survive this. So he had lost another friendship. What was the big deal? He should be used to this by now. At least now the damn presents had stopped. He smiled as he looked at the silver bracelet that wrapped twice around his right wrist. He should take it off because every time he looked at it, it brought Angelo to mind. Sadly, that was exactly the same reason he was still wearing it. He wondered if Angelo was still wearing the matching necklace.
“Mar…you’re not dressed.” Dex stuck her head in the room and frowned at him.
“Dex why are you here? I thought your boyfriend lived next door.”
“Don’t pout Mar, it makes you look like a bloody idiot.” “I’m not pouting,” Marlowe said as he watched his cousin walk over and open his
armoire and start pulling out clothes. “I don’t know why you are doing that. I told you all I am not going.”
“Marlowe, get your arse dressed. If I have to go then so do you.” She glared at him and pointed to his clothes. “Dressed! Now!”
Marlowe rolled his eyes. “You have to go because he is your boyfriend, and the party is at his house. I on the other hand have no intentions of going to watch girls throw themselves at Angelo. So you can just forget it. Go, have fun.” He shooed her out the door.
He was lying there contemplating what he was going to eat, or whether he was hungry at all when his door opened again and Angelo was standing there staring at him.
“I think you are in the wrong house… going by the noise, shouldn’t you be next door? You know... in that house where you actually live.”
“Aren’t you coming?” Angelo asked softly.
Marlowe shook his head. “I haven’t been in the partying
mood lately. I think I will just have a quiet night.”
Angelo came and sat on the bed beside him. “Silver, I…” “Don’t.” Marlowe held up a hand to stop him. “I don’t want
to hear it. I am sorry that I destroyed our friendship. But I am not sorry that we did whatever the hell we did.”
Angelo looked surprised. “You don’t remember that night do you?” Marlowe shook his head. “I know I let you fuck me, but I don’t know how we got to that point. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Your secret is safe.”
“Silver, you didn’t do anything wrong. We just… I mean, it just happened.” “But I don’t know how it happened. It is a total bloody blank to me. I don’t even know how we ended up naked.” Marlowe blushed and cursed himself for doing it.
Angelo fidgeted where he sat, looking uncomfortable as hell. “We ended up naked because I didn’t want to come in my pants.” He mumbled.
“Huh?” Marlowe was in shock. That one confession had just scrambled his brains. What the hell? “I don’t want to talk about it. It is not my proudest moment…” Marlowe tuned him out as a world of pain ripped through him. How bad had it been for it to make Angelo feel like that?
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