By Any Other Name (23 page)

“Oi, Dru, don’t spoil the lovely view!” someone hollered from another couch.

“Yeah, we know you’re all for the lawyer man, but let us look, at least!” That was Axel, who was just coming up the stairs and heard the words.

“Shut up, get yourself a hottie of your own!” Thom called over the general chuckling and hooting, and Dru, pleased at the praise whether he wanted to appear a vain bastard or not, very slowly tugged the shirt on before bowing to his audience and plopping down on Thom’s lap.

They made out and drank and then made out some more and then talked with people for the next hour or so. Dru was having fun, and so was Thom, who had switched over to water instead of alcohol.

To Dru’s surprise, Skye seemed to be doing okay. People were leaving him alone for the most part, and the ones who tried to approach him were shooed off by Kara’s possessive body language, which was suitable for the situation but pissed Dru off anyway.

“I need to go take a leak,” Thom said, and Dru got off his lap.

“Need help?” he grinned.

“Oh no… not right now. You go dance for a song or two and then we can go home, I think?” Thom smiled at him, and Dru nodded.

“Can I be bad?” Dru knew his eyes flashed with mischief when he asked the question.

“Sure, you know the rules.” Thom smirked, patted his ass, and walked down the stairs.

“I’m gonna go dance for a couple of songs and then we’re off,” Dru told Kara and Skye.

“Okay!” Kara said, and Skye nodded, but Dru didn’t stay to see his expression.

It took Dru two minutes to get lost in the movement of his body and the rhythm of the music. He knew he was good-looking, having heard it more times than he cared to count. About a minute later, Dru was sandwiched between two taller, more muscular bodies grinding against his. He opened his eyes to grin at the guys, both of whom he knew, though not well.

“You know my rules,” he just said, and both of the men chuckled and nodded. There were rules like no kissing or groping when you danced with Thomas Williams’s partner.

There was a lot of bumping and grinding and writhing. It looked like fucking with clothes on to most people. Only the guys, Dru, and Thom would know how innocent it truly was. There was a difference between enjoying yourself and your dance partners, even getting hard with them, and actually cheating on your partner.

The second song was winding to an end when a strong hand curled around Dru’s bicep.

“We’re going now,” a voice said, and the hand tugged him with the man.

“What the fuck?!” Dru asked and looked at the person grabbing him—Skye.

“That’s just… disgusting. We’re going now,” Skye snarled at him, and Dru was too stunned to actually do anything other than follow his friend outside.

When they got to the curb, Thom and Kara, both looking a bit shell-shocked, caught up with them.

The fingers let go of his bicep, and Dru knew bruises would form where Skye had gripped him.

“What the fuck, Skye?!” Dru spat out, rubbing the arm and glaring at his friend.

“The way you were grinding with those guys….” Skye looked livid, almost dangerously angry.

“It’s none of your fucking business! It’s between me and Thom what I do when we go out!” Dru snapped at his friend, and then Kara and Thom stepped between them, taking them away from each other while they waited for the cab someone had called.

The drive to their suburb was quite tense. When they dropped off Kara, she whispered something into Skye’s ear, and the man nodded. At home, Skye got out of the cab and pretty much vanished into his room.

Thom and Dru paid for the cab and went into the house. Thom grabbed some water from the fridge, and they trudged up the stairs and into their bedroom. After the door closed, Dru wrapped his arms around Thom and tried not to break down. The situation was impossible. He didn’t know what to do, and he wouldn’t beg or crawl to have Skye give them a chance!

“Let’s go take a bath, babe,” Thom murmured to him, and he nodded, following his lover into the bathroom.

They soaked in the warm water for a long time, just quietly enjoying the other’s company and thinking things through. They didn’t come up with any answers, but the bath did relax them both enough for them to be able to sleep despite the emotional turmoil they were experiencing.

When Dru woke up in the morning, Thom was just returning from his post-jog shower. Thom looked weird, wrong somehow.

“What is it?” Dru asked, sitting up in the bed.

Thom joined him, wrapped in just a towel. “Skye is gone.”                                                         

Skye

It was
an eye-opener for Skye, agreeing to go to the gay club with the guys. He would see his friends in their element: Dru had already mentioned several times that he loved dancing, and Skye enjoyed seeing him do anything he loved. The freedom that seemed to flow in Dru whenever he was truly enjoying himself was the most beautiful thing Skye had ever seen.

So yes, he’d swallow his fears and go act normal. Or something.

The clothes Dru had picked for him to wear were bolder than anything else he’d ever worn, but he sort of liked the way Thom whispered to him he looked really good just moments before Dru came downstairs. And then they were both looking at Dru like he was something delicious and edible.

That was the first moment Skye really understood that no matter what had happened to him, he was definitely at least bisexual. His body responded in ways he hadn’t thought possible; luckily, there was a distraction that had made it possible for him to calm himself down. When Dru went to call the cab, Skye caught the look in Thom’s eyes. Pure, utter devotion.

It was perfect. Love with a capital L.

That was why he had been more tactile with Kara. He had started doing that after the day he bathed Justine with her anyway, but now he was more determined than ever. He could have something of his own, something with Kara, who was cautiously willing and wanted him. They had talked more; Kara knew the realities and accepted them as much as she could.

The club itself was sort of scary—noises, people, enough sexual energy to power a city with… it was intimidating and intoxicating. The way some of those men eyed the group, minus Kara, made him feel a bit odd. Like Skye too was a piece of meat or something. Weird how you never truly understood some sayings before you were on the receiving end of such a thing. Well, he guessed he looked okay, and the clothes Dru had made him wear probably had something to do with it too.

They went upstairs, and Kara made sure nobody messed with him. He was so grateful he could have wept, especially when, at some point, someone had tried to grab his ass in passing while he was at the bar. Luckily Kara was there to calm him down when he had to take a few minutes in a relatively quiet corner to slow down his breathing again. It wasn’t that bad, the club. He’d had time to get used to the idea, and he had known there were going to be a lot of people, loud music, and so on. It wasn’t easy, but he was proud of himself for being able to be so calm.

He went to watch Dru and Thom’s dance moves. Kara was leaning on the railing with him, and they weren’t the only ones seeing the chemistry between the two.

“They’re like… made for each other,” Skye said loudly enough for Kara to hear.

She moved so that she could slither under his arm and lean into him. “Yes. I’ve always thought so. But in the greater scheme of things… they would have you,” she reminded him again.

Yes, maybe they would. But it was still something he didn’t want to do.

“Come with me? I’m leaving next week. Come with me.”

Skye turned to look at her, eyes wide.

“B-but you weren’t going before next month?” he managed to ask, purposely avoiding answering the question.

“My cousin told me about a family friend who has this two-room apartment over his garage, and it’s up for rent but needs some work done. So I’m renting it, but I need to go in early to help my cousin do the work so that it’s done by the time I start work and school.”

“Ahh… okay.” Skye nodded and looked down at the dance floor again.

“So would you? Come with me?” Kara asked again, and he could feel her eyes on him.

“Maybe. I don’t know. This isn’t really something I know how to handle.” He gestured down at the others, who were pretty much dry-humping each other.

“Very few things are, Skye,” Kara reminded him, and he snorted softly. She was right, after all.

The rest of the night they pretty much spent by sitting around chatting, and the others drank. It seemed quite laidback and casual, even when the place became packed to the rafters later in the night.

When Dru wanted to dance and Thom went to the bathroom or something, Kara and Skye were told that they’d be going after Dru’s last dances. Skye knew his friend was quite drunk but still completely in control of himself. It was comforting that Thom left him to dance on his own as he went to the bathrooms—or the line to the closest one, at least. After all, if Thom trusted him to be sober enough to be left alone in the mass of bodies, it couldn’t be bad, could it?

Skye and Kara moved to the railing again and watched the crowd swaying and grinding downstairs. It looked… hot. Like it was something that could seriously turn Skye on if he were a dancer or could ever be that comfortable around people he didn’t know. When he spotted Dru, it became quite obvious that his friend had no qualms about dancing with people who weren’t his partner.

How the hell could Thom take it? The men, one at Dru’s front and one behind his back, glued to his smaller body, were grinding against Skye’s friend. It looked…. It was…. Skye felt his head swim with emotions he couldn’t place. Anger? Jealousy? Want? More jealousy? Outrage? Shame?

Before Kara could move from beside him, Skye was halfway down the stairs and grabbing Dru. He didn’t quite know what he was doing, but he needed Dru to stop acting like some common slut and being so fucking sensual with anyone but Thom or… or Skye himself!

The emotions coursing through him were strange, wild, and scary as hell. So he got angry, something he hadn’t ever really done before. He was enraged by the whole fucking world! Then, before he and Dru could do anything to each other, Thom and Kara were there, separating them and making sure things didn’t get more out of hand.

As she was getting out of the cab, Kara whispered into his ear, “You can come to my place at any time. I have an extra room. Think things through, no strings or anything. See what seems right before you decide whether to stay or come with me.”

He nodded and sat in silence for the rest of the way to the house he had called home ever since he got out of the Institution. He had promised Dru he wouldn’t leave again. There was that promise, and then there was the survival instinct that told him to leave now before he could get more hurt. There was also the promise he’d made to Thom not to come between the two of them, not to take Dru away from Thom. Fuck. When could Skye be selfish? When was his time to get something for himself? The fight that those thoughts brought him as he walked to his bedroom left him as soon as it came. He wouldn’t do that.