Rock Bay 2 - Letting Go (5 page)
Read Rock Bay 2 - Letting Go Online
Authors: M. J. O'Shea
If anything, Mason was relieved. “That’s okay, hon. I’m not really looking for a boyfriend, but it would be nice to have a friend.”
“Really? You sure you’re okay with that?” “Yeah, I’m sure. Friends?”
Lex nodded. “Friends.”
rest of dinner was great, in Mason’s opinion. As soon as they decided they weren’t even going to try dating, any awkwardness from the first few minutes disintegrated and all that was left was what Mason hoped was a budding friendship. Lex made him laugh, and while he could honestly say the guy was fun to look at, there wasn’t a drop of sexual attraction between them, which was… nice for a change. He felt very grown up having a male friend who was gay without the least possibility of them ending up in each other’s pants.
They laughed and talked through salad, steak, and even a slice each of New York cheesecake before calling it a night. After the bill had been paid, split evenly thank you very much, they stood outside in the crisp spring air, still laughing at the last joke that one of them had told.
“Hey, this was fun,” Mason said, meaning it for real and not so he could take someone back to his apartment to continue the fun.
“Amy will probably think we’re dating,” Mason warned him. He wasn’t excited about getting shit from her for it one way or the other.
“Yeah. Maybe that’ll keep her off my back for a few days at least. You off again next Friday night?”
Mason nodded. “Yeah, I think I have the same schedule next week, so I should be. Wanna do a movie?”
Lex laughed. “I will if I can take one when he’s not looking.”
They waved good night with another grin and Lex promising to text when he made it home. Mason found himself still smiling as he drove up the hill that led to his apartment, the place he felt more at home than he’d ever felt anywhere else. Things were looking up out in the sticks. He was more glad every day that he’d decided to get away from Seattle, Harborview hospital, and Dr. Todd Powell, otherwise known as the biggest mistake Mason had ever made. He set his alarm for the morning, hoping that he could sneak a jog in during one of the rare cloud breaks (it seemed to rain nearly constantly out on the coast) before getting ready to go to the hospital for his afternoon shift.
Mason heard his phone beeping as he settled into bed. He pressed the button to unlock the screen.
He smiled and crossed his fingers that Amy didn’t pester him the next day during their shift. He didn’t want to be the one to let her down. Hopefully she talked to Lex first.
Come Monday it was clear that she had. It was also clear that his new friend Lex was a big freaking chickenshit.
“I heard you guys had a great time at dinner Friday.” Amy bumped him with her shoulder, nearly spilling the papers that Mason had balanced precariously on his clipboard.
Lex, you suck
.
“Yeah, it was cool. I think we’ll hang out again.” He hoped that using the words hang out instead of go out would give Amy a hint. Not so much.
“That’s good. I think you two would be adorable together.”
“Amy….” Mason barely held in a groan.
“I know, I won’t push it. Sorry, hon. It’s just, how could Lexie resist your big eyes and all those dark curls. I’m so jealous.” She reached out and tugged on his hair. Mason tried not to look at her like an alien had taken over. Where was his smartass friend?
She sighed. “Yeah, I guess it’s just a little bit of spring fever, and since there’s no romance in my future any time soon, then I have to live vicariously through the boys.”
“Which is fine with me. Lex and I are—” Just then the ER doors slammed open, and a stretcher was wheeled in.
“Motorcycle crash!” one of the EMTs called out. “Broken femur, sliced artery.”
“Why wasn’t this called in?” Amy shouted as Mason followed her at a jog toward the operating room. There was a frantic flurry of doctors, nurses, everyone trying to prep a room for the victim.
Amy looked like she was about to murder someone…. Well, not just someone. Mason knew who was most likely responsible. Lazy Phyllis.
What a fuck-up.
It was hours later, after the patient had his leg set, somewhere upward of fifty stitches in multiple places, and was resting in recovery that Mason noticed his phone had a message. It was from Lex.
Of course! Go get him. I still want pics:) Then he clipped his phone back to his waistband and went in search of Amy to see how they were going to solve the call-in snafu. He wondered if they were going to end the day minus one cranky and mostly useless nurse.
. Tallis Carrington. Nice to finally see you. I can’t believe you’re really back.
There had been rumors circulating for weeks about the return of the once great and shamed Tallis Carrington, but Drew hadn’t laid eyes on him, which was pretty hard in a town as small as Rock Bay. His father and Brock had both spoken to Tally face to face. He hadn’t even had a distance sighting. Felt kinda left out, to tell you the truth.
Of course, Drew spent a lot of time down in Astoria ever since the hospital account had opened, but still, it was weird they hadn’t run into each other until, well, now.
“Tally?” He still couldn’t believe it. There was his old friend, in the grocery store, picking over the vegetables like it was totally no big deal. Tally dropped the onion he’d been pondering and looked up.
Holy shit.
The guy looked great. Like amazing great. Drew had been expecting someone more like Brock, an old athlete gone to seed, puffy and maybe borderline alcoholic, but Tally looked healthy and glowing… and surprised, even though he had to know Drew was around.
“Drew?” He smiled after that and relaxed visibly. Drew was actually kind of glad. He’d been afraid that Tally wouldn’t want any reminders of his past, and he’d clearly been avoiding “hooking up” with Brock, not that Drew blamed him.
“I was hoping I’d run into you soon,” Drew said. He couldn't help his grin. “My dad said you paid him a visit.”
Tally chuckled then, looking a bit embarrassed—over what, Drew wasn’t quite sure. “Yeah, I did. You know, I have to say it. You look really good.”
“You do too. Kinda lost that beefcake look.” They grinned at each other. It was that
moment when Drew realized that Tally really was glad to see him. He was smiling openly, no guarded looks, no trying to escape. Drew knew all the signs, and none of them were present.
They talked for a little while in the store. Drew tried to pry out of Tally why he was still in town. He was surprised when he found out it was just an issue of money, and his old friend had actually found a job working for Lex Barry, the guy Drew seriously wished he wasn’t attracted to. The first guy he wished he wasn’t attracted to working for the most recent guy he wished he wasn’t attracted to—talk about awkward. At least in his head it was.
Drew honestly expected the conversation to end right there—you know the good ol’ “nice to see ya we’ll totally call of course but don’t actually plan to.” Yeah, that was what Drew thought would happen. He was pretty shocked when Tally offered to meet him for coffee at none other than Lex Barry’s shop. Drew’s belly fluttered. Lex. And, damn, Tally was still hot. He was in for one hell of an afternoon. He had no idea.
What he imagined would be him trying to awkwardly hide his old attraction toward Tally and his new attraction toward Lex turned into him being shocked to all hell because apparently he didn’t have a chance with either of them. Not only had Tally been working at the coffee shop Drew never dared to visit because of Brock, but Tally was gay
and
in a new relationship with Lex, which Drew couldn’t help being a little disappointed by. The shocks kept pummeling him, one after the other. It was unreal, how little things were like they seemed. In an odd way, it gave him hope.
Didn’t matter. Things with work, and his friends, weren’t going to change any time soon. So he’d broken down and told Tally he was into guys. Well, more like Tally guessed the second he noticed Drew looking at Lex. Still. It wasn’t like he was going to meet the perfect guy, in Rock Bay of all places, and go sailing off into the sunset. That kind of shit only happened to guys like Tallis Carrington. Not him. Never him. Even if Tally had found love, and Drew had the possibility of a couple of new friends, things weren’t really going to change for him.
So that’s why, when he was down in Astoria for lunch with his aunt, after a long bookkeeping session at the hospital, he was surprised to see the guy he thought was probably the man of his dreams. Okay, not surprised, and not probably. More like shocked, and holy goddamn how do I find out who he is? Because cheesy or not, he knew.
Drew had been relaxing at a table in a sandwich shop, regular day, checking the e-mails on his BlackBerry while he waited for his perpetually late aunt, when he saw him. This guy, thi s
beautiful
guy with a mop top of curls, gorgeous long-lashed brown eyes, and a pair of pale-blue hospital scrubs that really shouldn’t have looked that hot on anyone walked in the door talking animatedly on his cell.
“Yeah, sure, tuna on a toasted cheddar bagel. Yes, yes. With tomatoes. Got it, hon.” He smiled at whoever was on the phone, and Drew nearly fell out of his chair.
That smile
. Drew wanted to kill whoever “hon” was.
Kill
. He’d never had such an odd, and instant, reaction to any one person in his life. The guy—and Jesus, he was young, even though Drew’s body didn’t seem to notice—hung up and turned to the counter to place his order. Drew couldn’t help staring. He realized he probably looked kinda stalkerish, but there was just something about the guy in the faded scrubs that called to Drew.
Drew’s phone went off with an ill-timed text. Shit. Tally. The noise was enough to make the guy he’d been staring at turn to look back. He smiled hesitantly. The smile slammed Drew, a sock to the gut. Drew was speechless. He smiled back but couldn’t talk. Damn, he wanted to talk. Say hello, get a name, drag the poor, unsuspecting guy over and kiss him until he could barely breathe. Nothing.
When he was leaving, sandwiches in hand,
the pretty guy in the scrubs looked Drew’s way once again. He dipped his head just a touch. “Hi,” he said quietly.
“Hi,” Drew squeaked out in return. He thought of a million other things he wanted to say at that moment, but of course he was silent.
Jesus.
to see him again.
Drew couldn't get his mind off that sweet, hesitant smile. Problem was, he didn’t know where to see him other than probably at the hospital. And pathetic as he might be, Drew wasn’t going to the hospital to stalk some unsuspecting med student. Who was probably straight. Or not into guys way older than him. Drew would give him twenty-two tops.
And every twenty-two-year-old wants some guy in his thirties.
He was getting ready for his daily walk to work. The walk that Brock always mocked him for. “Why you gotta be such a fag, MacAuliffe? Can’t you drive like the rest of us who have dicks?” Drew rolled his eyes just thinking about it. He really did hate Brock 90 percent of the time. Okay, maybe 95. The rest he spent being afraid of what Brock was capable of… which was ruining him.
It was a rainy day, but Drew didn’t let that get to him. He simply grabbed an umbrella and headed out the door. He was on his way down Old Main Street toward his office when he had a wave of “screw Brock” and decided to get coffee in Lex’s shop no matter who was working. He was surprised how much he really, really liked Lex. Even more, how much he liked Lex and Tally together. If Brock didn’t have his business by the nuts, those two and Lex’s friend Amy would be the kind of people he’d choose to hang out with.
Drew pushed the door open, and was surprised when Tally, but not Lex, was behind the counter. Tally gave him a friendly but also surprised greeting, which was understandable. Drew usually would’ve been scared to be seen in Lex’s shop for fear that Brock would hear. Yeah, pathetic. But he had to confess to Tally that that wouldn’t be the case anymore. Because he’d told Brock where Tally worked.
Yeah, I wish I could too.
Drew apologized and got to the worst part— Brock wanted Tally to come hang out with the guys