Timing (150 page)

I arched an eyebrow for her.

“I’m sorry for lying, but you can’t leave. Your name is on the

damn wedding program.”

She had a point. Two hundred had been printed, and they weren’t

cheap. I knew because she had told me a thousand times; lots of hand-

made banana leaf paper and ribbon.

“And besides, you have that work thing tomorrow.”

I growled at her.

“Quit. I know you and Rand can be civil for the next four days. It

won’t kill you.”

I wasn’t so sure.

Ten years ago, Charlotte Holloway had walked into my dorm

room at the University of Arizona and announced that she was my

roommate. Since I was a boy and she was a girl, I had seriously

doubted it. Coed dorms were one thing, coed rooms a whole different

story. But when we compared sheets of paper, our room assignment

was correct. The error was a clerical one, her name listed as Charles

instead of Charlotte, but after an hour together, we both agreed that it

was actually fate. We were destined to be friends, best friends. We fit

seamlessly, and it felt like we’d known each other forever. When I told

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11

her I was gay, she told me that I couldn’t be any more perfect. By the

time the admissions office discovered the mistake, we had already

pooled our money and moved off campus together. Everything was

sailing along great until Charlotte’s older brother came for a visit.

Rand Holloway had made the trip from a small town close to

Lubbock, Texas to Tempe, Arizona to check on his little sister a month

after she moved. Charlotte’s father was too busy running the ranch, so

the task fell to Rand, the man who would someday be head of the

family, to either give his approval or drag her home. I was cautioned to

be on my best behavior, and I was prepared to be a saint. I was not,

however, prepared for Rand Holloway. He walked into our apartment

without even a knock of warning, and when I looked up, I had not been

able to contain my gasp. I was young, only eighteen at the time, and

there, standing in front of me, was easily the most beautiful man I had

ever seen in my life.

He was tall, probably six-four, built like a swimmer with broad

shoulders and a wide chest that narrowed to lean hips, and from the

way his clothes clung to him, he was covered from head to toe in thick,

corded muscle. His hair was so black it had blue highlights in it, and his

eyes were a piercing turquoise blue, like the sky on a cloudless day.

From the chiseled features to the bulging biceps to the way his jeans

hugged his long, muscular legs and tight ass, he was utterly

breathtaking, and I completely lost my power of speech. Unfortunately,

he did not.

“So I guess you’re the fag, right?”

First words out of the man’s mouth and they set the tone for every

interaction we’ve ever had from that moment on.

Charlotte had told her family that I was gay because she didn’t

want them to worry about her roommate being a guy. Rand had come

to check out Charlotte’s school, her living conditions, and, most of all,

me. When I had looked over at my new roommate, I could tell she

wanted to crawl under a rock and hide. But I wasn’t mad at her. She

had merely been passing along information as if I had been black or red

or green or blue, but her brother… her homophobic, cowboy, shit-

kicker, redneck, small-minded, small-town, prejudiced piece of crap

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Mary Calmes

brother, thought I was the anti-Christ. It was written all over his face,

from the scowl to his crossed arms to the disdain that I could feel

radiating off him. He hated me simply because of who slept in my bed.

It was stupid, and so was he. I gathered up my things and left until I

knew he was gone. The worst part of all was that the man was hot. If

he’d been ugly, if I hadn’t thought he was gorgeous before I knew he

was an asshole, it would have been easier for me. As it was, there was

guilt for initially thinking the enemy was glorious, mouth-watering

perfection.

A year later, when Charlotte’s father died unexpectedly from a

heart attack, I made the trip to Texas with her to hold her hand, tell her

jokes, and just keep her sane. Rand wanted her home, but both she and

her mother thought that the best place for her was in school. I was the

one who finally told him off, telling him that what he wanted didn’t

mean shit to anyone. His father, Charlotte’s father, James Holloway,

had sent his daughter to school because he wanted what was best for

her. Just because it would be easier for Rand if his sister went home

didn’t mean she was going to go.

When he roared back at me that the tuition could no longer be

paid, I told him that he didn’t have to worry. I would help my friend

stay in school. I would get as many jobs as it took to make sure that she

didn’t have to be stuck living anywhere near him and his narrow-

minded view of the world. While Charlotte and her mother hugged and

kissed me, Rand had stalked from the room like a wounded animal. It

became clear that it wasn’t just gay men her brother had a problem

with, it was also women who wanted to be more than housewives and

mothers. And while Charlotte wanted a husband and lots of cute kids,

she also wanted the job that a college education could provide.

As soon as we got back home to Tempe, my best friend got two

jobs and I got another in addition to the one I already worked five

nights a week. It was hard: sleep became a treat and not a given, but we

paid her tuition plus our bills. When we both got promotions, we could

actually go out again and do some drinking and dancing, even see the

occasional movie. A year later, when Rand offered to start paying her

tuition, as he had the ranch back to where it was making money, I took

great pride in the fact that she said thanks, but no thanks. He called me

on my cell phone to tell me to stop being such a self-righteous prick

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13

and pressuring his little sister into decisions she didn’t need to make.

With Charlotte listening, I told him to go to hell. She had her own

mind, and if she trusted me more than him, maybe that had more to do

with him and less to do with me. It was a priceless moment when I got

to hang up on him and not pick back up the other twelve times he

called. Charlotte had dissolved into laughter watching me dance around

the apartment.

Over the next two years, the animosity just escalated. When we

graduated, I was sad because I would miss her, but the bright spot was

that I would never be subjected to Rand Holloway again, nor the

mandatory trips to Texas.

I didn’t go near the Lone Star State, and with Rand never leaving

the ranch, my vacations with my friend were evil-free. I was not

surprised when Charlotte called to tell me that Rand’s wife had left him

after only a year of marriage. I had been more surprised over the news

that he had gotten someone to marry him in the first place. She called

me a jerk, but her new boyfriend Benjamin Cantwell had agreed with

me. Rand wasn’t his favorite either.

Six months ago, Charlotte had asked me to show up for her

mother’s sixtieth birthday party. The day afterwards, the three of us,

me, Char, and Ben were flying out to Cancun to meet friends. When

she told me we were going to the ranch, I was worried, but I figured it

was only one day. What was the worst thing that could happen?

I was standing with Charlotte’s uncle Tyler, having a good time,

asking him questions while he barbequed, when Rand came by. He told

his father’s oldest brother not to waste his time talking to me because I

wasn’t really listening anyway.

“I am, actually,” I had snapped at his retreating back.

“Bullshit,” he barked back at me, having wheeled around. “Stefan

Joss never listens to anything anybody says.”

“No,” I said coolly, staring directly into his eyes. “I just don’t

listen to you.”

The muscles in his jaw clenched, the veins in his neck corded, and

his eyes narrowed by half. “Well, that’s certainly good to know.”

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Mary Calmes

I shrugged, and he walked away without another word.

“You know,” the older man had chuckled, which brought my

attention back to him. “I have never seen anyone get a rise out of Rand

like that.”

“Sorry,” I said, ready to walk away.

He stopped me with a gentle hand on my arm. “No.” His smile

was wide. “It was fun.”

“Yeah, it was,” I smirked at him, which sent him into choking

laughter. I wasn’t the only one that thought that Charlotte’s big brother

was an ass.

Later that night, Rand stopped on his way into the house to say

goodnight to his family and found me sitting between two of his uncles,

drinking beer, talking, all three of us with our feet up on the railing of

the porch. More of his cousins were crowded around us, everyone

laughing. I was the only one without a cowboy hat on.

“You comfortable?” he asked snidely after he told everyone else

he was heading up to bed, since some people had to get up early in the

morning to work the ranch. “Think you’d still be if everybody knew?”

“Knew what? That I’m gay?” I asked him, grinning like crazy. “I

dunno, maybe.”

Watching his face fall was priceless.

“Stef told us about that,” his uncle Lincoln told him. “I say what a

man does in his own bed is his own business. Ain’t that right?”

“It’s just like a man that likes big women,” his uncle Tyler

shrugged. “If that’s your taste, why not, I say.”

“He likes big girls,” Lincoln assured everyone, in case any of us

had missed it.

Rand’s sky-blue eyes were locked on me as he spoke under his

breath. “You’re lucky my family is full of open-minded, good-hearted–

–”

“Except you,” I cut him off, taking a quick breath and smiling

wide even as I saw his jaw clench. “No one ever accused you of being a

good guy, huh?”

He pointed at me. “You’re a cocky piece of––”

Timing

15

“Aww, are you tired? Is that why we’re name-calling?”

If looks could kill, I would have been dead right there.

“Better get on up to bed, Mr. Holloway. We wouldn’t want you to

be tired in the morning and be a dick or anything.”

“You know, one of these days you’re going to get yourself in a

mess that––”

“Oh.” I waggled my eyebrows at him. “I love a good mess.”

Everyone laughed, and he stalked across the porch, fuming, fists

clenched at his side.

“Stefan Joss, you cannot leave me!”

The whispered threat brought me back from my wandering

thoughts to my friend.

“Please.”

Who was she kidding? I would never, ever leave her.

I rolled my eyes, and she leaped into my arms, wrapping herself

around me as tightly as she could.

“Uh-oh, look out. Your man’s coming,” I said, putting her down.

We both turned to see Benjamin Cantwell crossing the room to

us. He was dodging people trying to talk to him, making sure he didn’t

get caught in someone’s clutches, and finally broke into a jog to get to

me. It was easy to see, by the way his eyes lit up and his pleased smile,

that the man really liked me. I opened my arms for him, and he lunged

at me. The hug was hard and hurt a little, so that way I knew it was

real.

“You’re late,” he said when he let me go, shoving me away from

him. “I was worried you weren’t coming until tomorrow or something

and by then my girl’d be a basket case.”

“Oh shut up,” she snapped, smacking him in the arm before

moving to my side, leaning against me. “I’m perfectly fine.”

I kissed the top of her head as I squeezed her tight. “Aww, Char,

you know I had to show. I mean, who else is gonna watch out for your

man at all the strip clubs?”

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Mary Calmes

She laughed, and it was deep and throaty, one of many things I

loved about her. I gave her a last hug before I let her go and she went

into Ben’s arms. She wrapped hers around his waist, and he anchored

her there next to him.

“I was sorry to hear that your guy couldn’t make it Stef,” Ben said

softly, sympathizing

I squinted at him. “What guy is this?”

“Oh.” He sounded surprised. “Um, Cody right? Wasn’t that his

name?”

“Oh, Ben Cody is so six months ago.” Charlotte chimed in.

“Less,” I corrected her, “but yeah, he’s done.”

“Need a damn scorecard to keep up with these guys, Stef.”