Coming Home- Rock Bay 1 (21 page)

T
HE
self-proclaimed gay squad of Rock Bay was having a good time, better even than Tally had imagined possible. After some initial standoffishness, Drew and Amy banded together in their efforts to give Lex and Tally shit, and by the time they were done with a movie and a game of Trivial Pursuit, they were well on their way to being friends. He still had to pinch himself every once in a while when he started thinking there was no way any of this could really be his life.

They’d made their way through a couple bottles of wine and at least two six packs of beer. Tally was lying back on the couch with a mostly sleeping Lex between his legs. Amy was sprawled on the floor beneath them, and she and Drew were embroiled in a game of speed on the oriental carpet. Tally was busy trying to inch Lex’s shirt up so he could touch the soft skin of his belly.

“Knock it off, Tally. I don’t want to watch my best friend get it on.” Amy didn’t even pause in her game. She slammed down her last card and flung both of her hands in the air.

“I told you no one ever beats me.” Amy tossed him her signature self-satisfied smirk.
He sighed. “I want a rematch. But sometime when my eyes aren’t drifting shut.”
Tally shot Drew a concerned look. “Hey, D, are you cool to drive?”
“Maybe. I guess I could always walk home, but I need my car in the morning. Do you have any coffee?” He looked surprised when Amy and Tally started laughing, then he realized what he’d just said. “Wow, that was dumb.”
“What’s happening?” asked Lex, his voice a sleepy grumble.
“Drew asked if we had any coffee.” Lex smiled at the irony. “Babe, do you care if he crashes on the couch for a few hours? I think we managed to get him a little drunk.”
“’Course not. There are extra blankets and stuff in the closet.”
Tally kissed Lex on the back of the head and scooted around so he could stand and go look for the blankets.
“Hey, Lex, walk me out.”
Tally noticed that Amy was giving Lex a significant look. She was clearly trying to be casual, but even Tally, after only knowing her for a few months, could see right through it.
“Sure, Ames. Let me get a sweatshirt on.” Lex pressed a short tired kiss on Tally’s lips and rolled his eyes a little when he was sure nobody but Tally could see. “Be right back. Don’t fall asleep without me.”
“I won’t.”
As soon as he waved good-bye to Amy, Tally got Drew settled on the couch with a few blankets and a down pillow. Drew looked like he was still spinning a little, but he didn’t seem too bad off. He was just turning to go to bed when Drew spoke.
“You guys seem really happy, Tally. I’m glad.”
“Yeah? You don’t disapprove of our evil gayness?”
Drew sighed. “Fuck off. You know that’s not me.”
“I know, I was just giving you shit. Hey, it was really nice to see you, man. Give me a call soon if I’m still passed out when you wake up. Thank God it’s Lex’s turn to get up and let Travis in tomorrow.”
Drew gave Tally a sly grin.
“What?” Tally asked.
“You, dude. I never thought I would see badass Tallis Carrington in love and all domesticated and shit and
happy
about it to boot.”
Tally shrugged. “Guess it took the right guy.”
L
EX
shivered. He’d been so warm lying on the couch, cuddled up to Tally. The brisk night air was a bit of a shock. He hopped from one foot to another while he waited for Amy to get her keys from her self-named manbag. Lex had made the mistake of calling it a purse once, and she nearly bit his head off. Apparently the word “purse” was far too girly for her. Didn’t matter. The damn thing was like a bottomless pit, and wherever her keys were it was taking forever for her to find them.
“C’mon, Ames, I’m freezing! What’s taking so long?”
“Found ’em. They were stuck beneath my makeup bag.”
Lex snorted. “If you have a makeup bag in there, it’s a purse. I’m not buying that manbag shit ever again.”
“Whatever.” She was uncharacteristically lax in the defense of her butchness. “Hey, listen, Lexie, I don’t want to be too overprotective, but I have to ask.”
Ah, shit. This isn’t going to be a short conversation.
Amy only called him by his sister’s nickname for him when she was ready for a heart to heart.
“What’s going on, Ames?”
“You and hottie up there are getting awfully cozy looking. I thought this was just a friends with benefits thing.”
Lex felt his cheeks turn pink. “Not anymore.” He took a long breath. “He loves me, Ames,” Lex told her quietly.
“And what, this is a summer love affair, fun until he moves back to Seattle? I just don’t want you to get hurt, babe. I had to pick up the pieces when Eric cheated on you. I don’t want you to go through that again.”
Lex shook his head. “He’s not going back to Seattle. I think—” He didn’t know how to say it. He hadn’t really even said it to himself. “I think he might be it for me.”
“It?”
If anything, Lex’s cheeks felt hotter. “Yeah.
It
. Like I love him. Like I can’t imagine waking up for the rest of my life without him next to me.”
Amy froze in place. “Shit, Lexie, when did that happen?”
He shrugged. “Slowly, or maybe it’s been there from the beginning, and I was trying to ignore it. I don’t know. All I know is when he told me that he didn’t want to go back to Seattle anymore, my heart stopped for a second, and then I was happier than I’ve ever been in my life. The whole thing felt…
right
. I can’t describe it any other way.”
“Does Tally know how you feel?”
“I don’t know. I think so. He knows I love him. I guess the rest of it was implied.”
Amy made a face. “Just be careful, all right?”
Lex shook his head. “I’m thinking this might be the one time in my orderly, careful life that I’m going to let go—just let things happen, you know?”
“And if it ends badly?”
“Then it ends badly. He’s worth the risk.”
And he was. Lex knew that, no matter what, he’d never regret feeling the way he did right then, totally in love. She squeezed him in an uncharacteristically tight hug.
“I’m happy for you, hon. Love ya.”
“Love you too, Ames. Hey, are you sure you’re cool to drive?”
“Of course. I stopped after two glasses of wine. I knew I didn’t want to spend the night camped out at the love nest.”
Lex gave her a playful shove. “Then I’m going to go back up now, ’kay?”
“Yeah. Have a good day off tomorrow. What are you going to do?”
Lex grinned. “
Sleep.
”
“Hey, at least you’ll have someone to sleep with.”
He nodded. That was probably his favorite part of being with someone, lying quietly together, kissing, being close. He was glad that Tally seemed to like it just as much as he did.
“Night,” he called softly from the stairs that led to the back door of his building. Lex glanced over as Amy was pulling out and saw his BMW pulled right next to Tally’s old, dented, rattrap, piece-of-crap car. Oddly enough, they seemed to go well together. He smiled. That was the way it was supposed to be.

T
ALLY
was cleaning up from the early morning rush on a rainy Tuesday. Lex had driven down to Astoria earlier for what he claimed was a much-needed haircut. Tally actually liked that Lex’s hair was getting long, kinda skater-boy adorable, but he could tell it was driving Lex nuts so he said to go and he’d watch the shop. Lex had gone with a kiss and a promise to bring fish and chips back from the Bowpicker, one of Tally’s favorite places to go eat when he was in high school and visiting Jeremy. After years of working at Cutter’s in Seattle, the smell of fish and chips had stopped appealing to him, but lately he’d been craving that old familiar flavor. Must’ve been something to do with being home.

The overhead bell rang, and Tally looked up to see Drew walk through, looking a bit nervous but well put together in a suit and tie.
“Hey. What brings you here? Isn’t Brock back in town?”
Drew had finally confessed that the only reason he’d had the courage to walk into Lex’s shop in the first place the week before was that Brock was in Seattle for the weekend with his wife for the Nordstrom’s Memorial Day sale. Tally had been to one of those before. Torture of the highest degree.
“Well, I kind of told him you work here. Um, I wouldn’t be surprised if you see him around.”
“Aw, shit. Thanks. You know I was trying to avoid him.”
Drew cringed. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking, and I let it slip that I saw you, so he wanted details. It doesn’t matter, Tal.” Tally noticed that Drew seemed to have picked up Lex’s nickname for him. He was surprised by the fact that he liked it.
“I just don’t want to get involved with him. I’m really happy, you know? It’s been years since my life was this nice. So what can I make for you?”
Drew blushed. “Just an Americano. And, um, about that?”
Tally chuckled. “What is it?”
“Brock told me to invite you out for guys’ night next weekend. I was hoping that you’d come, and then, well, if he knows about you, then it might be easier for me.”
Tally rolled his eyes. “And what makes you so sure that he’d be cool with me being gay?”
“Because you’re you. Brock totally worshiped you in high school. We all did. I swear, every time that one of us does something that he doesn’t like, his first reaction is to tell us what he thought you would do.”
Tally rolled his eyes. “What would Tally do? You’ve gotta be kidding me. I’m not Jesus. Besides, I was a total fuck-up then. There wasn’t anything to worship.”
“You weren’t all bad. There were lots of times when I could see this Tally peeking through. It’s what I liked about you. The possibility that you weren’t what you seemed.”
“And here I thought all these years that no one saw through my bullshit back then.”
Drew shrugged. “If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think anyone else did. I wanted to. I wanted to believe there was more to you.”
“Drew?”
“Don’t ask. You don’t want to know the answer. Besides, it was a long time ago.” He sighed.
“And now? What makes you all of a sudden want to be out?”
“You know that guy that I’d have to fall pretty hard for?”
“Yeah?” Tally raised his eyebrows and smiled.
“I may have met him last week.”
“Really? What’s his name?” Tally was happy for his friend, but he didn’t want him to push himself into anything until he was ready.
Drew shook his head and laughed. “You know, I have no idea. I saw him at a restaurant when I was down in Astoria grabbing dinner with my aunt. All we said was hi, but I swear….” He unconsciously laid his hand over his midsection. Tally knew exactly what he meant.
“How are you going to find him again?”
“He was wearing scrubs. My guess is he works at the hospital.”
No way.
Tally smiled. “If that’s the case, then I’m sure Amy can help you if you want.”
Drew looked nervous all of a sudden. “Don’t say anything to her yet, please. I’d feel like an idiot if I was imagining the whole thing. He could totally be straight, there’s just—”
Drew was interrupted by the door to the shop swinging open. Instead of the gentle jingle the bells usually made, there was a crash.
“What’s up, fucker? D-dog told me I’d be able to find you here! I’ve been waiting for you to call me.”
Fuck. Brock.
“Hey there, Brock. You, uh, want some coffee?”
How can I get him to leave?
“Sure, dude. At least with you serving it up, I can be pretty sure it’s not that fairy juice that Barry makes.”
Drew laughed nervously, and Tally gave him a long look. That was not the way to start easing Brock into the idea that he might like men. Tally turned and rolled his eyes at Brock.
“I got the same beans that he has,
dude
. You want coffee or not?”
Brock’s cheeks got red. He looked a bit embarrassed. “Yeah, but no sugar. The wife’s got me on a diet.”
Tally poured Brock his cup of drip coffee. Drew was making significant eyes at him, like he wanted Tally to blurt out the fact that he was gay right then and there. Tally waved him off with a small gesture. All in good time. If he’d learned anything at all during his long years in the city it was how to work it with a jerk. Brock fell under that category, and past hero worship notwithstanding, Tally knew the whole thing had to be handled delicately and at the right juncture—not to mention the fact that he wasn’t particularly looking forward to doing it. A replay of the scene with his mother wasn’t the way he wanted to start off his afternoon. Brock tossed a few dollars down on the counter.
“Thanks for the coffee, man. We’re going to see you this weekend, right? Golf and drinks at the club. We might even check out the action down at Fox’s on the highway.”
Golfing, drinks, and the strip club instead of spending his night with Lex. Hell, cleaning the apartment would be better than what Brock had planned. Tally could’ve gagged at the thought of it. Drew shot a pleading gaze his way, and Tally sighed internally.
“Yeah, I’ll be there.”
“Sweet!” Brock raised his hand for a high five.
You’ve gotta be kidding me.
Tally didn’t know what to do, so he gave Brock a weak high five in return. “C’mon, D. I’ll give you a ride to work.” He turned to Tally. “This one insists on being some granola munching treehugger. He never drives to work.”
“It’s only ten blocks!” Drew protested.
Tally wanted to tell Brock that perhaps if he walked to work more often his wife wouldn’t have him on a diet, but he figured that wouldn’t be the best plan when he was trying to be diplomatic for Drew’s sake. It was beyond him why Drew wanted to keep being friends with Brock and the others, except for the fact that they were the only friends he probably had to choose from since everyone else managed to get the hell out of town. He could only hope that, by the end of it, Drew got what he wanted and Tally would be left alone to be with Lex.