Shifting Gears (Crossroads Series Book 2) (19 page)

Rod opened his mouth to respond, but Landon cut him off. “Actually, shut up and just come here. Jesus, I don’t know which way is up most of the time with you.”

With him? Rod thought he was pretty easy to understand. Landon was the confusing one—pushing the friendship only, talking about his family, the way he’d taken Rod that last time, and also forcing Rod to talk about his own shit. Most of the time, he didn’t have to worry about that. People accepted what he showed them of himself because they really didn’t want any more than that.

“Get your ass over here before I drag you to me. Oh, and turn off the kitchen light.”

The twisting in his stomach was different now, more confusion than the knowledge that this was ending. Rod took a step closer to Landon, and then another. He noticed a couple small speakers that he hadn’t seen before, speakers that didn’t belong to him. “What are you—”

“You keep asking me that and my answer is the same. I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m just going with the flow. Come here.”

And Rod went. He turned off the lights as Landon said, and then closed the distance between them. “We missed the fireworks. It was my fault so I thought we could watch them now.” Landon pointed the remote at the TV and then a huge fireworks display came to life on the screen, the whistling and popping playing through the surround sound that Landon had hooked up.

Damned if Rod’s hand didn’t start to shake. He couldn’t move, didn’t know what to say, but knew he had to let something pass his lips. “Why are you doing this?”

The light from the television shone around Landon, and he shrugged. “I know it’s not the same as the real thing, but I just wanted to do something nice for you. That’s it.”

He’d done nice things for Rod already, a big one being the way he’d let Rod drive his bike.

“When’s the last time someone did something nice for you?” Landon asked.

The answer was easy. “The last time I saw you.”

Landon shook his head. “That doesn’t count. That was selfish. I want someone to ride with, and I like sharing my love of bikes. Unless you’re talking about the sex, and then there’s the fact that I came so hard I saw double.”

But this was just for Rod… He tried to make sense of it, tried to work through how they’d gotten here. Landon was the one who made sure Rod knew what this was. It was Landon who didn’t want to take the chance that Rod would read something into it that wasn’t there and now here he was, doing things like this for him. The kind of thing no one had taken the time to do for him before.

“Come on, we’re going to miss the show again.”

When Rod didn’t reply, when he couldn’t reply, Landon continued, “Just ride it out with me. That’s what I’m doing, riding it out. We’re shifting gears, that’s all. Not sure where we’re going. Not even sure I know how to get there, but let’s just try to enjoy the ride.”

And he wanted that. Wanted it so fucking much, that the need ate him alive. It scared the shit out of him at the same time.

Still, Rod closed the distance between them. When Landon sat, Rod went to the other end of the couch, lied down, and put his head in Landon’s lap like he’d done fifty times before.

Landon touched his hair, ran his fingers through it and neither of them spoke; they just continued sitting there together, watching the show.

“Craigslist, huh? I heard Grindr’s a better option, though I never had to try either. Before Nick, I had to fight women off with a stick, and then there was no one but him.”

Landon rolled his eyes at Bryce, not surprised by his joke. He liked Bryce a lot. He liked Bryce and Nick both. “Betcha had to fight Nick off too, at first. Hell, I don’t know how I keep my pants on around you. The struggle is real. I want to drop my jeans around my ankles for you right now.”

Bryce gave him a cocky grin. “Tough isn’t it? Most people have that response to me.”

Landon looked around the break room for something to throw at Bryce’s head. When he couldn’t find anything that wouldn’t do serious damage he chuckled instead. “How does your boyfriend put up with you?”

Bryce winked. “I’m good in bed. That makes the rest of me bearable.” He sat in the brown chair across from him, and Landon found himself eager to tell Bryce what he was really doing. Maybe Bryce would have some connections to help him do this for Rod sooner rather than later.

“I’m looking for a good starter bike for Rod.”

The expression on Bryce’s face immediately became one of surprise. “No shit?”

“Yeah, I took him out on the Harley once. I don’t mind letting him ride it, but I think it makes him nervous, because it’s not his. He doesn’t want to mess anything up. I want him to feel comfortable so he can just go for it, let go of the excess fear. It’s already nerve wracking to learn to ride. I figure if I can find one for cheap, we can grab it and he can ride that. If he changes his mind, I can always sell it.”

Bryce crossed his arms and eyed Landon. “You want to buy Rod a bike? What are your intentions with my friend?”

Laughing, Landon told him, “Shut the hell up.” When Bryce smiled, Landon continued, “Really I’m just excited to have someone to ride with.” He didn’t have to buy it
for
Rod. Hell, it wasn’t as if he could ever have enough bikes, but like he said, he could always sell it if Rod discovered he didn’t like to ride. He liked buying bikes, fixing them up some and selling them.

“And what? I don’t fucking exist or what? Unless it goes back to the whole
struggle to keep your pants on around me
thing, you have to know I’d be down to go with you. Nick likes to ride with me, but he has no interest in driving his own bike. I’d love to take a cruise with you sometime.”

Landon nodded. He would definitely like to go out and ride with Bryce sometime. That didn’t change the fact that he wanted to ride with Rod too. He loved bikes, and really wanted to share them with Rod. “That’d be great. Let’s plan something.”

Bryce nodded and then said, “You know he’ll lose his fucking mind if you buy him a bike, don’t you? I’ve noticed that about Rod. He struggles with things that feel too real. He’s good at playing it off, but there’s something more to it. This isn’t
a Hey, let me buy you lunch
. This is a fucking motorcycle. No matter how you play it off, saying you’ll sell it yada fucking yada. You’re buying him a goddamned bike. How would you feel if some guy you were fucking bought you a motorcycle?”

Landon closed his eyes and dropped his head back. Bryce was right. He sure as hell wouldn’t be able to accept something like that from someone, especially a guy he was sleeping with. Instead of saying that, he asked, “How do you know I’m fucking him?”

Bryce shrugged. “Just figured. Find a bike, take him to look at it. If he wants it, he’ll get it.”

Jesus, he was losing his fucking mind. For the second time Bryce was right on the money. What had he been thinking? “Thanks, man.”

With a nod, Bryce stood. He looked as though he wanted to say something, so Landon decided to make it easy on him. “Go ahead and say it.”

“Just…be careful with him. I know that sounds ridiculous. It’s sex, and I’m sure we all know Rod doesn’t hide the fact that he has no problem with sex, but like I said, I think there’s more to him than he lets on. And I think he has the potential to be hurt, though he would never let anyone know he was. Maybe he already has been hurt and we don’t realize it.”

He had been hurt. Landon had no doubts in his mind about that. Rod all but admitted it to him with what he’d said about his dad. The fucked-up part was he still didn’t know what he was doing. He just knew how he felt, even if he hadn’t completely worked through the why of it yet.

He liked Rod.

He wanted to spend as much time with him as he could.

He wanted Rod to be happy.

“I know. We’re figuring shit out as we go along.”

“None of it is my business, but I wouldn’t be me if I hadn’t said what I was thinking. Hey, you two should come hang out at the house sometime. You know, since you lied your way out of the last get together.” He cocked a brow at Landon and he knew there was no getting around that he had in fact acted like an idiot.

“Yeah, sure. That’d be great. I’ll talk to Rod.”

He was making all sorts of plans for someone who didn’t know what in the hell he was doing. Full throttle. He didn’t know any other way.

***

“I was thinking we could play… There are some new products I want to try. Do you like nipple play?” Rod asked Landon the second he showed up at Rods-N-Ends. Landon stumbled and looked up at him in wide-eyed surprise that was sexy as hell.

“Um…yeah? I guess it depends. I’ll use my tongue on your nipples all you want. You can suck on mine too. I’m not into the whole pain thing. No clamps or shit like that.”

Well, that hadn’t gone as planned. He’d expected to embarrass Landon. There were a few people in the store, and he hadn’t exactly whispered.

“You were giving me shit. You’re trying to annoy me, aren’t you? Don’t lie. I see it in your eyes.” Landon set a bag on the counter. “I brought dinner when you have a break.”

Landon really needed to stop it with this stuff, bringing him dinner, the fireworks surprise the other night. People didn’t do this with him. People fucked him. Rod enjoyed it. The end.

“I’m going to help people have good sex, or at least help them masturbate better. I’ll be back in a minute.” He ignored Landon’s questioning dark eyes and made his way to one of the couples shopping. He helped them. He sold some edible products, which he thought were ridiculous. He thought about Landon, about sucking his dick and licking his skin. When he had his mouth on someone, he didn’t want to taste anything except him, the salty taste of his skin and the flavor that was unique to him.

Rod spent about thirty minutes helping people before the store cleared out. Landon still waited patiently by the counter for him, so he told Abigail that he was taking his break, before he led Landon back to his office. “Smells good. What is it?”

“Italian. I got you cheese ravioli. Is that okay? It’s gotta be cold by now. Do you have a microwave in your office?”

“I do,” Rod told him as he opened the door. Landon closed it behind them and he grabbed the bag from Landon’s hand and set it on the desk. He turned back to Landon and rubbed his hand on his crotch. “I think I’d rather have some of you instead though.”

He really would. He wanted Landon all the time. He pressed his palm against Landon’s dick, and felt it start to harden immediately. He loved that he had that effect on him.

“Christ, you are a horny son of a bitch.” Landon wrapped his hand around Rod’s wrist. “As good as having my dick down your throat sounds, that’s not what I came here for. We don’t have time for that. You should eat.”

Rod didn’t move. “Well, shit. Are we back to that again?”

“Back to what?”

“Back to you not wanting to touch me.”

Landon shook his head and stepped back. “Wanting to touch you isn’t the problem. I just wanted to stop by on my way home. My mom’s been running around like crazy lately. She’s working herself to death, so I told her I’d come home and help her with a few things tonight. I’ll take a rain check on the blowjob. Your mouth is fucking hot, but I like to spend time with you even when I don’t get to come.”

Maybe that was true before they’d been together, but since Landon had finally given in, he figured that would be all he wanted. It made him feel upside down and backward when Landon rejected him. It made him feel unwanted. Landon hadn’t even fucked him after they’d watched the fireworks the other night.
Because he’s losing interest already. But then…why is he here?

“You wore the eyeliner. You know that makes me hot. You’re too fucking tempting.” Landon leaned forward and kissed him before he made his way around Rod, pulling food out of the bag and putting it into the microwave. “Sit down. I don’t have long. Oh, hey, I found a few bikes we can go look at, if you want. And Bryce said something about having us over. What do you think?”

Rod didn’t know what to think about any of it. The only thing he did know was that he was in over his head where Landon was concerned. Rod knew sex. Rod knew making people laugh. This other shit? He had no fucking clue.

They had to take Rod’s car to look at the bikes. He’d borrowed a trailer from the shop, and hooked it up in case they ended up bringing one home. He’d made calls on three bikes. They’d looked at one already, but Landon didn’t think it would work. It had obviously been ridden too hard. It was dirty, had sat for a while, and hadn’t looked like it had been taken care of very well.

The second one, the guy wasn’t home despite the fact that they’d set a time to go see it. Shit like that happened, but it still annoyed the hell out of him. “I hope this one works. It’s an 883, which in my opinion is a perfect first bike for you.”

“That means nothing to me,” Rod replied to him from the driver’s seat.

“The blue one.”

“Oh! Yeah, I liked that one. I hope it works, but if it doesn’t, there will be other bikes.”

Landon looked over at him. “I’m not feeling your excitement. I need more excitement from you, Rod. It’s a fucking bike.”