Cast Off (16 page)

“He grabbed me a bit. It’s nothing.”

“He grabbed you?” This time, Ian appeared dark and menacing and so fucking hot.

“Hey. It was nothing. He was upset that I stopped seeing him. But he was drunk. I promise it won’t happen again.” He hoped.

“Well, if you’re sure. Let’s get out of here.”

A sharp cramp knifed through his bladder and he realized he’d forgotten why he’d come back here in the first place. “Uh, yeah. Just give me a minute.” Rick whirled around and dashed into the bathroom.

“I
CAN
’
T
go. Stop pestering me about it.” Rick stole a fry from Jon’s plate. He never ordered them, but sneaking a few here and there shouldn’t adversely affect his waistline. “And how much do you work out, anyway, to be able to eat BLTs and fries whenever you want?”

Jon pulled his plate farther away from Rick. “No more fries if you don’t stop deflecting. You’re going to Erin’s birthday party.”

Rick turned his attention back to his grilled salmon. “No, I’m not. You know I don’t do family things.”

He’d had enough of a taste of family functions at Kurt’s housewarming, and he wasn’t willing to put himself in that situation again.

“Kurt’s our friend, and he wants us at his sister’s birthday party. It’s a big event. More importantly, Davy wants us there. Don’t you want to make sure Kurt’s family is treating him right?”

“Wow, honey. Guilt was exactly the right note. Now I really want to go!” Rick rolled his eyes and stole another fry.

“Family things aren’t my style either; you know that.”

Rick did. Being disowned by their families for being gay had been one of their initial reasons for bonding when they’d met at the strip club, so many years ago. Jon was the closest friend he’d ever had, but he’d never admitted the full extent of his family issues to him. There hadn’t been a need. Jon didn’t have any family hovering, and Rick had already decided he wasn’t going to gain any through a boyfriend. When Jon had introduced him to Davy, none of them had a lot of family to speak of. Rick had settled into a very comfortable existence surrounded by friends and a few fuck buddies. He’d fought his way into a career that gave him a sense of pride and accomplishment. He’d always assumed life would just sort of continue the way it had for the past few years. There had been no indications of any bumps in the road. No potholes, no cracks, and no deviations from the path he’d been on.

Then Davy had to go and find himself a partner with parents and six siblings, all of whom seemed unnaturally involved in their son’s and brother’s life. That family kept spilling into Rick’s life. And he didn’t like it.

“So why are you going? I mean, I haven’t even met Erin. Why would anyone want me at her birthday party? In my opinion, it’s just weird.” Another fry found its way into Rick’s mouth.

“Okay, one, do I need to order more fries?”

“Only if you want to, darling.” That was as close as he’d come to saying yes, because he shouldn’t have fries and wasn’t going to admit he wanted any.

Jon shook his head and signaled for the waiter. Jon knew him a little too well, it seemed.

After the waiter left, Jon picked up exactly where he’d left off. “Two, didn’t you listen to Kurt? It’s not like we’re intruding on a small, intimate family dinner. It’s more like a big party at the O’Donnells’ bar. There’s always lots of people there and Kurt wants us to go. So we should. Besides, it might even be fun.”

Fun. Rick would rather get a root canal without anesthetic, but if he didn’t have a good excuse like a funeral or an unexpected hospital stay, he’d probably have everyone on his case, not just Jon.

“Your reluctance wouldn’t have anything to do with one particular O’Donnell brother, would it?”

Rick stared into Jon’s eyes. Jon knew he’d left Kurt’s place twice in Ian’s company but he hadn’t told Jon anything about the “friendship” he and Ian were developing. Nor had he mentioned the Oscar incident. Normally Jon would have been the first one he called about a thing like that. He wasn’t sure why, but he still wasn’t ready to mention he’d been spending time with Ian.

“No. Not at all.”

Jon lifted a blond brow. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure.” After falling into a regular dinner and movie night schedule, he wasn’t worried about running into Ian at this party, other than appearing too friendly with the guy. He was rapidly developing a case of blue balls, though, along with a friendship. None of the benefits had kicked in, and for some reason, Rick hadn’t bothered interviewing for a new roster to help him relieve them.

He just wasn’t interested, and even found himself looking for additional activities to do with Ian, knowing full well they weren’t going to dive back into bed until Ian was sure they were friends. Ian had been considerate enough to do his best to stay away from group events until they could be sure there wouldn’t be any weirdness, and he assumed that was why Ian hadn’t been the one to invite him to Erin’s party. But weirdness with his friends wasn’t the reason he didn’t want to go to this party. Not at all.

“I don’t know. What happened with you guys? Ian seemed like a nice guy. Totally hot.”

Well, he wasn’t going to discuss Ian’s hotness with Jon. Not when Rick hadn’t been able to familiarize himself with it in far too long.

“Fine. I’ll go.”

“To the party?”

“Yes, of course, the party. You know, what we’ve been discussing? You’ve got a birthday coming up too, old man.” Rick switched their plates. “You obviously need to eat my salmon, honey. I hear Omega-3 oils do wonders for your memory.”

“Jerk,” Jon muttered, but started eating Rick’s salmon anyway. Rick popped another fry in his mouth. The universe would be unjust, indeed, if a plateful of fries stolen so deftly had the same number of calories as if he’d ordered them for himself.

R
ICK
hung back a little, letting his friends lead the way across the parking lot of Finn’s Frolic. It was much bigger than he expected, but if Kurt was to be believed, the back room was big enough to hold fifty or sixty people at least, plus there was the public front room. Based on the number of cars out in the lot, the place was packed.

He’d agonized over what to wear. Intellectually, he knew the O’Donnells were accepting of Ian and Kurt’s sexuality. But he couldn’t bring himself to trust that the goodwill would extend to him as well, so he didn’t want to dress like he was going to a club. No one ever had trouble determining his orientation when he dressed up. Just to make himself extra crazy, he
wanted
Ian’s family to like him. He wanted to make a good impression on them. He wanted to know if they would treat him differently if they thought he was more than a friend to Ian. As if that wasn’t enough, he’d begun taking some delight in enticing Ian. Nothing openly provocative, but enough to make Ian regret his temporary sex moratorium.

Jon held the door open for him, and he couldn’t put it off any longer.

Finn’s was loud and filled with people. Looked like a normal bar, as far as he could tell. Pretty much as he expected an Irish bar and restaurant to look. The crowd consisted of a variety of ages and styles, but there didn’t seem to be any reason to assume any of them would suddenly become crazy homophobes and leap off their chairs to lynch him. As instructed, they headed for the back room. Jon gave their names and they were ushered right in.

The back room was just as busy as the front. Along the right-hand side were several pool tables and dart boards. A dance floor covered with several occupied tables existed between the entrance and a small raised platform, too small to call a stage. Some room had been left clear for dancing, but no one was taking advantage. The left-hand side of the room was where all the action was. An old-fashioned wooden bar extended almost the entire length of the room and nearly half of the people were gathered in clumps within touching distance of the bar.

Kurt and Davy left the game of pool they were playing and headed over, big smiles on their faces.

“I’m so glad you guys could make it. Come, let me introduce you to everyone.”

“Everyone? Didn’t we meet everyone at your housewarming?” Jon sounded as freaked out as Rick felt. Kurt just laughed.

“No, not everyone. Other events aren’t required attendance for the family, but birthday parties are. C’mon.”

Rick let them go and made a beeline for the bar. He managed to squeeze into a spot behind two pregnant women who looked very much alike. Presumably these were the pregnant twin sisters Ian had mentioned, but he had no burning desire to introduce himself. Maybe after a glass or two of wine.

Rick ordered a white wine and waited.

“Did you see that guy Ian brought?”

Those words were enough to have Rick leaning away from the bar to listen in on the twins’ conversation.

“So cute. Think there’s another romance in the air?”

“I don’t know. He may be cute, but he’s also pretty young. Ian said he was just a friend.”

“A friend. Yeah, right. Ian can call it whatever he wants, but that Leon kid wants to eat him up.”

Leon? Ian brought Leon? Rick remembered Ian mentioning some friend of his from work named Leon. Who was also gay, if he recalled.

A dagger built of agony and despair gave him an unaccustomed painful taste of jealousy, and he didn’t enjoy it one bit.

The glass of wine arrived and Rick snatched it up, not sure if he was going to walk out this minute or go and find Ian to throw it in his face. The logical part of his brain clamored for reason because he was the one who’d insisted on no strings. No commitment. Even if he’d wanted them, Ian surely wasn’t the type of man to want them. This was how it should be. It was best this way.

Glass in hand, he searched the room for his friends and headed their way. The dark head he saw in the corner of his eye more than likely belonged to Ian but Rick was fairly short. Maybe Ian wouldn’t see him in this crowd.

The hand on his shoulder—warm and familiar—told him otherwise. “Rick! You made it.”

He could do this. Pasting on his cheerful yet vacant smile, he turned to Ian. “Hello, darling.”

A tiny frown skittered across Ian’s face for a moment before his smile returned.

“How are you?”

Confused. Angry. Horny. Rick inspected Ian’s crisply pressed pale-blue shirt that made his eyes electric, matching dark-blue tie and black pants. Add a tailored suit jacket and Rick might cream on the spot. None of which he was going to admit. “Fine. You?”

Ian grinned. “You look great, although I have to admit I was hoping for the sheer burgundy shirt.”

Rick gave a halfhearted laugh and put his hand on his hip, striking a pose like a model. “Well, now, kind of like a wedding, it wouldn’t be fair to have all the attention on me, would it?”

Laughing, Ian grabbed his hand. “Come with me.”

“I’ve already met most of your family.” Rick couldn’t stop the panicked words from spilling out.

“I know. Come meet Leon. He’s my friend from work. I think I mentioned him.”

Leon. Okay, yeah, Rick wanted to meet this guy. He followed Ian over to a small cluster of guys by a dart board.

The second they inserted themselves into the knot of men, Ian dropped his hand and a shaggy-haired young guy sidled up to Ian like he belonged.

“Leon.” Ian wrapped an arm around shoulders broader than Rick’s. Taller too. “This is my friend, Rick.”

“Pleased to meet you, darling.” Rick extended a hand, hoping he didn’t look as uncomfortable as he felt.

“Rick. Nice to meet you too.” Was that a sneer that accompanied Leon’s words? The faint curl of his lip could have been a smile, but Rick had been playing the social game for a long time, and he was certain Leon felt nothing but disdain for him.

Fuck a duck. He was adorable too. Whip his shirt off and he’d have fit right into the young, toned crowd at Anaconda the other night.

“Ian, did you want another beer?”

Ian nodded at Leon. “Sure thing.” He tried to hand Leon a twenty, but Leon just shook his head. For a moment, it appeared as though Leon was going to lean in and kiss Ian before he left, but thought better of it and departed for the bar.

The conversation grew to include the three other men who’d just finished a darts game, but Rick could do nothing aside from sip his wine and smile as white noise filled his brain. Anaconda. Ian had been at Anaconda. Which meant that despite finding Rick, he must have been looking for a younger man much like Leon. In fact, Rick was probably staring at the embodiment of Ian’s type.

Everything Rick wasn’t and could never be. And he’d never felt the lack more keenly. It was more painful than he’d ever want to admit that Ian might have lied to him. That he may have been nothing more than a convenient fuck. That Ian might want to be friends but might never intend to seek benefits again—at least while Leon was in the picture too. This was a mistake. A complete and utter mistake. All the things he’d told Ian, believing the friendship line. Some, he’d never told anyone, not even Jon. He was an idiot.

He scanned the bar. The back exit was closer than the front. If he used the back, he’d be outside and in cab that much faster.

“Excuse me a moment.” No one heard him, and no one cared.

Rick placed his wine glass on a nearby table and headed for the back. Maybe everyone would think he was heading for the restroom.

I
AN
hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off Rick. It was killing him not to touch him or kiss him or take him home and fuck him. Until tonight, he was certain he’d been taking the right tactic. Already they’d fallen into regular weekly outings that Ian privately called date nights, no matter what “friendship” spin he put on them to make Rick feel at ease.

Every minute he spent with Rick made him care more and more for the mysterious blond, and he had every confidence about where this relationship was going.

Until tonight.

Rick had thrown up another wall, one that included Ian in that vacant-headed expression. He smiled and laughed and Ian doubted anyone but himself could see there was no real emotion behind any of it. Not even when he looked at Ian. This couldn’t just be a family thing. Sure, Erin’s birthday party was bigger than Kurt’s housewarming, by a long shot. But only a few sibs had missed out on Kurt’s housewarming and as overwhelmed as Rick had been, Ian had still been able to see real emotion.