Cast Off (15 page)

Ian was meeting him at one of the places he’d only shared with close friends. Most of his roster never knew what a geek he was, and tonight, he was going to let Ian in on that secret. Ian likely already had suspicions, but tonight, Rick was going to confirm them. He, Jon, and Davy had long ago decided that geeks didn’t get laid enough, so they’d gone to great pains to hide their geekiness from anyone but each other.

“Hey there.” At the sound of Ian’s greeting, Rick whirled around.

The huge smile on Ian’s gorgeous face was becoming more and more necessary for Rick’s happiness.

Ian leaned in, almost as though he was going to kiss Rick, but he stopped himself at the last moment. But his smile didn’t falter a bit.

“I’ve never heard of this place.”

“I’m sure you haven’t. Advertising with
Errant
is likely way out of their budget, but their clientele keeps them busy enough.”

“Lead the way. I’m ready for anything.”

After opening the door, Rick searched for a free table, all the while trying to imagine Ian’s thoughts seeing it for the first time.

Off to the left, a couple rose, leaving a booth free. “There. Let’s take that one.”

Ian followed him and waited for him to select which side of the table he wanted, before sliding onto the bench across from him.

“Hmmm.” Ian glanced around. “I deduce, based on the number of game boards and game pieces on all the tables, you’ve brought me to your favorite strip club.”

An odd, snorted laugh escaped through his nose. Spending time with Ian was never boring. He very nearly offered to wager on the outcome of their game, that the loser would strip for the winner, but he was trying to be good. He was trying to give this as much effort as Ian was.

“It’s a good thing you’re pretty, darling,” he cooed at Ian, dragging a fingernail along Ian’s forearm. Seeing Ian’s shiver and the gooseflesh that appeared on Ian’s skin made Rick want to raise his fist and cheer. He definitely wasn’t the only one feeling the effects of the attraction between them.

Ian wiggled his brows. “Okay, so tell me about this place.”

“Games. We grab a game from the wall and play. That’s it. The menu’s a little sketchy, but the beer is cold.”

Holding his breath, Rick waited for Ian’s response. But Ian didn’t run or sneer. He just smiled the fond little smile he had, the one Rick was never sure what he’d done to prompt it.

“Mmm. I knew you were a closet geek.”

There wasn’t much he could say to refute the statement. It was true. “I am, a bit.” Although he didn’t think he’d been that obvious about it.

“I can already see that I don’t recognize any of these games, so I’ll let you pick. Are there servers here or is it bar service only?”

“Bar service only, I’m afraid.”

“Go pick a game.” Ian glanced at a few nearby tables. “These are a little more complicated than Clue, so you can set it up while I get us drinks.”

Huh. That had been amazingly easy. Rick got up, making sure to put an extra little swish in his step. Just in case Ian was watching.

Twisting to look at the available games, he positioned himself so he could take an unobtrusive look back at the table. Sure enough, Ian had his eyes directed at Rick’s ass. He knew they weren’t going to do anything about it yet, but it was nice to know Ian still liked his ass as much as he claimed when they’d fucked each other into sweaty, boneless heaps.

Then he turned his focus away from the sexy man waiting for him and toward the game selection. He loved
Settlers of Catan
, and it wasn’t bad for a first timer, but it was a minimum of three players. Same with
Betrayal at House on the Hill
.
Arkham Horror
had too many fiddly bits and rules for a first timer. Oh, wait,
Pandemic
. Perfect. Not too many rules, and instead of working against each other, they’d be able to cooperate to try to defeat the oncoming pandemic.

He didn’t know how well Ian took to losing, but he himself had a tendency to gloat when winning. He wasn’t entirely sure they were good enough friends to survive that, at least not when there would be just one winner and one loser. In a group it was easier to gloat without incurring any hard feelings. With
Pandemic
, they’d either both win or both lose, and Rick liked those odds much better.

By the time Ian returned from the bar, Rick had all the game pieces set up. Ian was smart and he paid attention. It took almost no time at all to explain the rules.

“So, is this one of the games you play with Davy and the guys?” Ian moved his wooden marker across the board.

“Oh, yeah. We do. How did you know?” He may have mentioned his Friday nights with the guys, and possibly that they played board games in passing, but he didn’t think so. After all these years, the whole hiding-the-geek thing came almost as naturally as avoiding talking about his childhood.

“Kurt’s invited me along a couple of times.”

The mouthful of beer went down the wrong way and he coughed and sputtered. “He has?” Rick had no idea what to do with that information. Did that mean Ian had no interest in games at all and was faking it for his benefit tonight?

“You okay?” Ian was halfway out of his seat, poised to do the Heimlich or something, but Rick waved at him.

“Fine, fine. Just swallowed wrong.” Not something he said very often, that was for sure.

“Did you want a glass of water?”

“I’m good.” That, on the other hand, was something he said frequently. He drank another sip of beer to prove his point.

“So, Kurt’s invited you to game night? How come you’ve never accepted?” Dammit. They’d only had a couple of rounds and already had outbreaks in Miami and Sydney. Rick had a bad feeling they were going to fail to prevent the pandemic.

Ian shrugged and added more infection markers to the board. “I know you don’t want anyone to think we’re a couple or anything, and I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable with your friends, so I’ve put him off. Of course, he’s starting to think I hate geeks, but you know… I don’t hate geeks at all.”

The heat in Ian’s eyes produced an immediate reaction in his groin. Damn him. At least they hadn’t lost the game yet. No reason for him to get up and show everyone how Ian affected him. Which didn’t do anything to mitigate how guilty he felt that Ian hadn’t come to game night. The man didn’t really have any gay friends that Rick knew about, and Rick’s hang-ups were preventing him from not only socializing with the brother he was very close to, but also from getting to know Kurt’s life partner and making a new group of friends who had more in common with his new out-of-the-closet life.

“I’m sorry.”

“That I don’t hate geeks?”

“No, darling. That I’m preventing you from….” There was no good way to finish that sentence. Anything he could say would make him sound like a selfish asshole.

Ian placed a warm palm atop his hand, stopping him from making his next move in the game. “Hey. It’s okay. The most important thing right now is that we’re good. Solidifying our friendship is what I’m interested in right now. I promise.”

Rick nodded.

“But this is a lot of fun. When you’re ready, you let me know and I’ll come along to game night.”

This was too good to be true, and yet, he’d thought that more than once since he’d met Ian. Not once had Ian truly disappointed him.

“
R
EADY
to grab something to eat?” Rick needed something to soak up the beer or he just might take Ian home with him. They’d lost two games of
Pandemic
, but they’d enjoyed every minute. He’d been amazed how much Ian had enjoyed it. Which made him feel even worse that Ian was refusing to attend game night because of him, but the thought of telling his friends about Ian made his breath come fast and his palms sweat.

“The food here really isn’t worth it?”

“No, darling. Really, no.” When they were in university, splurging on supersalty and borderline-stale snacks while they played had been a real treat, but as soon as he’d got a real job, he’d never eaten there again.

“Where to?” Ian followed him as he put the game back on the shelf.

“Lettie’s?”

“Lettie’s? I haven’t been there in years. We always went when we were drunk. The food’s good sober?”

Rick wasn’t quite willing to attest he was one hundred percent sober, but Lettie’s was a regular for him and his friends. The diner was open twenty-four hours, making it one of the more popular spots for the drunks who got kicked out after last call and those with incipient hangovers. Since it wasn’t even ten thirty yet, the crowd would be mostly sedate.

“Come on. Let’s go.”

“I’m trusting you.”

“Darling, you’re going to love it. Home cooking like….” Rick tilted his head. “Okay, well, you’ve had an invested mother who’s been around your whole life. It’s probably home cooking like you get at home, but maybe not quite as good. But I like it.”

“That’s good enough for me.”

Forty-five minutes later, they were comfortably ensconced in another booth at a brightly lit fifties-style diner polishing off the remains of meatloaf and chicken potpie. Ian was so fucking bad for both his diet and workout schedule. They’d have to have sex before Rick ate his weight in sexual frustration.

“I admit it. That was damn good.”

“But not better than your mother makes, right?”

“You should come to family dinner night and find out.”

Adrenaline spiked at the thought of running across Mrs. O’Donnell again. “Uh, no. You know I don’t do family stuff.”

It wasn’t the first time Ian had suggested he come along to a family function, but Ian always backed off. Like hanging out with the guys, though, he wasn’t sure how long he could keep refusing. Even if he wasn’t introduced as anything more than a friend, the secrecy was going to speak volumes all on its own. He’d always refused to add married men to his roster because he didn’t want to deal with the dirty secrets. And yet he was becoming a dirty secret all of his own making, because he’d insisted Ian not tell anyone about them.

“I know, I know. One day I’ll wear you down.”

Not fucking likely.

Ian smiled at him and stroked the back of his hand. “No family stuff. You don’t need to say it again. You ready to go?”

“In a minute. I just have to hit the bathroom.”

Rick made his way through the maze of tables to the bathroom. Before he got there, a hand grabbed his arm and spun him around.

“You fucking liar!” Beer splattered on his arm as a drunk, angry Oscar waved a glass around, his other hand fisted and cocked like he was going to take a swing.

“What the—”

“You told me you weren’t interested in anything more than fucking. But here you are on a date.”

Oh, this was not happening. Not at all. He had to fucking pee. “What the hell is the matter with you? What I do now has nothing to do with you.”

Oscar stabbed his finger in Rick’s face. “He needs to leave you the fuck alone. I saw you first. I get dibs.”

Dibs? “Oscar, how fucking much have you had to drink?”

Oscar wobbled back on his feet.

“For God’s sake, you can’t call dibs on me.”

“That asshole can’t have you.” Oscar threw his glass to the floor where it shattered in a shower of shards and lager.

Rick bared his teeth. “Don’t fucking do this. You don’t have anything to say about it.” Oscar couldn’t ruin what he had with Ian; he just couldn’t.

“Shut up, Rick. You don’t know what you want. You don’t know what’s good for you. It’s not that guy.”

“Oscar, you need to sober the fuck up. Get out of here before someone calls the cops.” They’d only go unnoticed for so long. He wasn’t worried about getting hurt—he’d taken more than his fair share of self-defense and martial arts courses, but that didn’t mean some well-meaning customer or waiter wouldn’t call the cops.

“Shut up, Rick. All I can do is think about you. Drinking is the only thing that lets me sleep at night.” The words were slurred, but there was no mistaking Oscar’s words. He didn’t want to be responsible for this, but he should have noticed earlier that Oscar was a keeper. Not only that, but a clingy keeper. And one who became a complete asshole with the addition of booze.

“You need to leave, Oscar. Or you’re going to get arrested.” Rick tried to remain calm and collected, but it only seemed to aggravate Oscar.

Rick glanced around the restaurant. No one was looking at them… yet.

Oscar grabbed him, fingers biting into his shoulders, and pushed him against the wall. Fuck, he had to take a leak so bad.

Faster than the drunken Oscar could deal with, he brought his arms up and broke Oscar’s hold.

The sirens that sounded outside could have been headed their way. They probably weren’t, but he was going to use it.

“Holy shit, Oscar, the cops are coming. You’d better get out of here, or they’re going to arrest you.”

Something must have soaked into Oscar’s alcohol-addled brain because his eyes flared in panic. He turned and stumbled away.

Ian showed up while he was rubbing his shoulders.

“You okay? You were gone kind of a long time.”

Rick continued to rub his shoulders. “Yeah, I just saw Oscar. I haven’t seen him since he brought me flowers after I told him I couldn’t see him anymore. He was a little drunk and… belligerent.”

“Are you okay? Do you want to call the cops or something? Or should I just go beat him up for you?”

The last question made him laugh. “Not to impugn your manhood, darling, but Oscar’s a big guy.”

“I don’t know. I’ve got three brothers, one of whom is a cop. You pick stuff up.”

Ian puffed up a bit and Rick would never admit to having a tiny little fantasy of Ian and Kurt tussling with each other. For the first time, he understood why guys always wanted him and Jon to make out.

Good thing he wasn’t ready to accompany Ian to any family functions. Bright red wasn’t a good color for him, and he was very much afraid the next time he saw Ian and Kurt together, he’d blush like crazy.

“I’m fine.” Rick rubbed his shoulder.

“Are you sure?” Ian reached out and touched the spot he’d just been rubbing.