Coming Home- Rock Bay 1 (14 page)

“I’ll be right out, Tal,” Lex called with a smile. Tourist season had begun.
From September until somewhere in mid-April, Rock Bay was a sleepy little hamlet. Only the locals and a few straggling drivers passed through the main street of town on a regular basis. But when the coastal weather warmed up, the tourists started to come. Day trippers out from Seattle or Portland, people driving up the scenic coastline on Highway 101, which went right smack through the middle of Rock Bay, and— the best—tour buses filled with trinket-happy tourists who wanted their own little piece of the Pacific Northwest to take back to wherever they came from. It was when the little town came alive with street fairs and art shows, sidewalk sales and the near constant smell of summer barbecue coming from the grocery store down the street. There was a formal start of summer block party at the end of June, but that was nearly two months away. The block party was big business for Lex, but the whole tourist season was what fueled his little shop through the less busy winter months.
Lex wandered into the front while the people from the bus were still perusing some of the earliest sidewalk stands that the local stores had put out. He casually brushed his hand across the juicy curve of Tally’s ass and kissed his neck, comfortable that there were no onlookers.
“Hey. You’re gonna get me all excited when I can’t do anything about it. Tease.”
Lex waggled his eyebrows and slipped his hand around to cup Tally’s rapidly hardening crotch. “Doesn’t have to be teasing. I’d say we got about two minutes till those tourists hit. You think I can get you off by then?”
“No!” He backed away with a laugh. Lex laughed, too, but he couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed. He wanted to get his hands on Tally constantly. “I can’t believe I forgot about tourist season,” Tally groaned.
Most people in town had a love/hate relationship with the tourists. The revenue was great, of course, and exposure for the little pen dot of a town was good too. The lack of parking, though, and some stranger in your favorite booth at Sandy’s diner? That part sucked.
“It’s way bigger now than it used to be too. I’ll probably have to work a lot of the afternoons. For sure I’m going to need help on the weekends. Maybe I can hire a kid from the community college in Long Beach.”
“You know I’d be here every day if you’d let me.”
“I wish I could give you that many hours, but Labor and Industries would be up my ass if I did.”
“It’s not only the money, Lex.”
“Tally….” Lex didn’t want to hear it. Couldn’t hear it. Wanted it more than anything….
“I know. Sorry. Feelings.”
Lex gave Tally a slow smile and tried to ignore the warmth melting in his belly. “It’s okay this
one
time.” He smacked Tally lightly on the butt. “You wanna do the register or make the drinks?”
“Ugh. Drinks. I had enough dealing with people last night to hold me over for a while.”
Lex nodded. He totally understood. They’d run an open mic night for the second week in a row because there had been such a long list of people who wanted to perform that they’d ended up with a waiting list nearly as long as the original set list. Open mic nights were always great for revenue but a total zoo. He’d been running the espresso machine so fast that Tally had been stuck at the register the whole night, dealing with flirty girls, nervous musicians, and the usual espresso divas who had to have their twenty ingredient lattes served just right or there’d be hell to pay.
He was about to tell Tally again how grateful he was for the help at open mic night take two when the front door opened and the first few tourists from the bus trickled in. Lex put on his best smile and greeted the customers, getting himself ready for what would be a very busy half an hour or so.
Lex was in the middle of taking a very long and complicated order from one of the city folk when the shop’s phone rang.
“Shoot, Tally, can you grab that?”
Tally nodded and reached for the phone. “Good afternoon, Rock Bay Coffee and Sandwich Company, can I help you?”
Lex was busy writing the customer’s order and didn’t hear the conversation in the background. It wasn’t until the last of the tour bus customers were helped and out the door that he finally had a second to ask about the call.
“Oh, it was your mother,” Tally answered. “She says your sister’s going back to Seattle in the morning and she wants you to come over for dinner.”
“Does she need me to call her?”
“She said no. Um, I was invited too.”
Lex shook his head. “Of course you were. She remembers you, you know.”
“Shit. Does she hate me? I already told her I’d go.”
“I told her to back off and that you were the best person to hire. She trusts my judgment, but she’s been bugging me to meet you.”
“Why didn’t she just come here?”
Lex chuckled. “That would’ve been way too easy. She wants you on her turf.”
“Great. Is this going to be an inquisition?”
“Yep. Complete with full anal probing and body cavity search.”
“As long as you’re doing the probing part, I’m okay with it.”
Lex snorted and pinched him on the side. “I’ll keep that in mind. You want some help with clean up?”
“If you’re not super busy. The city folk made a mess out of my tables.”
“The city folk? What are you?”
“Hey! I’m Rock Bay born and raised.”
Tally bumped hips with Lex as he grabbed the big plastic tub they usually used to collect dishes on open mic night. Lex smiled as he watched him round the counter and head into the cafe area to clear the tables. His smile faded, though, the further Tally got.
Yeah, but you’re not staying….

Tally turned at the sound of glass breaking. He’d been in the middle of clearing the last of the tables when the crash came from behind the counter.

“Lex, are you okay?”
“Yeah. Shit. I cut myself on the broken dish. I’m fine.” Tally plunked his tub on the nearest table and rushed around the

counter to see if Lex really was, in fact, okay. What he saw was Lex, holding his right arm, which was gushing a bright red trail of blood. The blood was dripping from his elbow to the steadily growing pool on the floor.

“Lex! What the hell? You’re not okay. We need to get you to the emergency room!”
“Tally….”
“Can you rinse it off so I can see?”
“What are you, an EMT all of a sudden?”
“Rinse off your arm, Lex.”
Lex cringed but stuck his arm under the faucet that he’d turned to low. Even with the extra blood washed away, the gash was deep and long, and he couldn’t tell if there were any shards of ceramic in it or not. Before he could even get a closer look, new blood welled up and started dripping down Lex’s arm.
“That thing is going to need stitches.”
Lex grumbled. “I hate hospitals.”
“Well, I can go all pioneer and stitch it up for you, but I’m thinking you’d rather have a doctor do it.”
“Ugh. Fine.” He gestured to a spot on the counter with his head. “My keys are over there.”
“We can take my car.”
Lex somehow managed to make a snotty face in between winces. “Yeah, right. I don’t care how many times you take your beast into the shop. I’m not crossing the Columbia in that rattrap you call a car.”
Tally made a mock outraged face. “Fine, pull my fingernails out. I guess I’ll drive the pretty BMW.” He sighed long and loud.
“C’mon, let’s go. And, hey, will you grab me a few of those towels from the clean pile? I don’t want to bleed on the leather.”

T
ALLY
made it out to the 101 in no time and was speeding down the highway into Astoria, the closest town with a fully functioning emergency room. They had a small practice in Rock Bay, but the doctor was friends with Tally’s grandmother and tended to be on the golf course more than in his office. Tally thought it best to go to Columbia Memorial rather than risk having to sit in Dr. Green’s waiting room until he was done with the eighteenth hole. Judging from Lex’s comment about the going over the Columbia, it seemed that he agreed. They’d been on the road for a little while when Tally glanced over to see how his suddenly quiet patient was doing. Lex, who’d seemed annoyed but fine at the shop, was starting to turn a rather alarming shade of off-white. Tally gulped and pushed on the gas. He didn’t know what was wrong, but Lex didn’t look good at all.

He headed onto the bridge that crossed the Columbia River and left Washington behind. By the time they hit land again, they’d be in Oregon and hopefully only minutes away from the hospital. Lex’s forehead looked clammy. Little beads of sweat were popping up all along his hairline. The off-white had morphed into a slightly greenish tinge.
Aw, shit.

“Um, you look like—” Tally stopped. Probably best not to tell the guy he looked like he was about to keel over.
“It’s not the blood,” Lex groaned and squeezed his eyes shut. “It’s the bridge.”
“The bridge?”
“It makes me… nervous.”
“Nervous? Are you sure that’s all?”
“Yeah. It’s better when I’m driving, not so good in the passenger seat.”
“You gonna puke?”
“No, just get over the damn bridge.”
“Almost there. Keep your eyes closed.” Tally reached over and put his hand on Lex’s thigh, hoping to comfort him. Lex gripped Tally’s hand with his uninjured left side. Tally’s heart melted a little in that second, but he squeezed back and tried not to make a big deal about it. “Okay, bridge is done.”
“We want to get on Marine Drive,” Lex mumbled, still pale and sweaty.
Tally chuckled. “I know where the hospital is, silly. Just concentrate on not throwing up.”
“Thanks a ton.” Lex put his forehead against the cool glass of the car window. Tally saw him breathing slowly, in and out, in and out. He tried to go a little faster, speeding through a yellow light and barely making it.
“It’s only a few more blocks, okay? Think you’ll be fine with walking in if I park in the lot?”
Lex snorted. “I’m not having a baby, you know.”
“Then shut up and look pathetic. The worse you seem the less time we’ll have to sit in the waiting room.”
Tally pulled into the pay lot next to the hospital and rushed around to help Lex out of the passenger seat. Lex had the mass of quickly reddening hand towels pushed against his arm. He didn’t look nauseated any longer, but his face was still really pale.
“C’mon, we’ve got the walk signal. Let’s go get these stitches over with.”
The ER wasn’t very crowded, thank God. Lex couldn’t have handled sitting there watching daytime TV on the monitor, waiting for Amy to see he was there. As soon as she saw his name, he knew he’d be admitted, but if she was busy it might be a while. Turned out to be a quiet day at Columbia Memorial. She came rushing out about two minutes after he signed in, looking flustered and worried.
“Lex! What on earth happened?”
Lex shrugged, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Cut myself on a broken dish. It looks worse than it is. I got sick coming over the bridge.” Even to himself, his voice sounded slurry and tired. Amy and Tally exchanged worried looks. “Guys, m’fine. Promise.”
“Of course you are. Thanks for bringing him, Tally. Lex, c’mon, let’s get you stitched up.”
“Babe, can you wait out here?” he mumbled at Tally, knowing only that he wanted to see Tally’s face when he got out of the back. It was only when he saw Amy and Tally’s surprised faces that he realized what he said. “Shit,” he muttered. “Jus’ forget—” And with that, everything went black.

W
HEN
Lex came to he was lying on a gurney in the ER, staring at a heart monitor that was blipping away cheerfully. Amy was standing with her arms crossed over her chest. His arm was numb, but when he went to feel it there was about a mile of gauze wrapped tightly around the area.

“Long enough for them to stitch you up. You’re fine. You wanna tell me what that was all about in the waiting room?”
“Great freaking bedside manner, hon. Shit. What was what all about?” He shook his head, trying to clear the cotton from his brain.
“You called Tally babe.”
“So? I call you babe all the time.”
“It’s different.”
“I’m in the emergency room, I just woke up. Can you grill me another time?”
“You cut your arm open, not your head, and I’m worried about this Tally thing. What is going on between you two? Don’t you remember high school?”
“Yeah, and so does he. I told him who I was.”
“And?”
“And he says he’s been sorry about that for years.”
“And?”
“We get along really well.”
“And?”
“He’s hot in bed?”
“James Alexis Barry, you did
not
!”
Lex grinned at her. “You said I needed to get laid.”
“Yeah, but what does Tallis Carrington have to do with that? He’s straight!”
Lex simply shook his head.
“When did you find out? When did… what….” She looked flustered.
“The night I brought him to dinner at your house.”
She nearly screeched. “You’ve been sleeping with him all this time?”
“No. That’s the night he told me he was gay. I kissed him. Then I spent the next week trying to ignore the fact that I wanted to rip his clothes off.
“And I made it until the next Friday night.” He cringed. “After my date.”
Amy chuckled but still managed to swat him on the arm. “You’re such a jerk. I can’t believe you’re dating big bad Tallis Carrington. Just don’t come crying to me when you find out he hasn’t changed as much as you thought he did.”
Lex rolled his eyes. “I won’t. Besides, I thought you were the one who said he was different?”
“He is different, but I’m allowed to be overprotective.”
“Well, knock it off. Anyway, we’re not dating. We’re just friends.”
“Friends who—”
“Yes, friends who have fun together.” He smiled. “A lot of fun.” Amy swatted him again. “I really don’t want to discuss this any further in an assless gown. Where are my clothes, by the way?” He went to sit up but slouched back when his head spun. All he wanted was to lie in his bed and watch TV—hopefully with good snacks. “And when can I get out of here?”
“Let me call the doctor so he can check you out.”