Bad Company

  “What if he doesn’t give a shit? Then what are you going to do?”

  “Well, that’ll be my problem again, won’t it?”

  There were no more noodles to fish out of the bowl. “Two months.”

  “Deal.”

  Kellan had left most of the tofu swimming in the broth, and most of the vegetables and the noodles. He scooped out some and eyed them suspiciously before sliding them into his mouth. “How long have you been doing this vegetarian shit?”

  “Since I went to college.”

  “It’s a total crime. Man, your mom made the best sausage and beef lasagna in the world.”

  Back when they could afford it. After Geoffrey Brooks’s betrayal, Nate’s dad had lost his job. Too many times his mom or dad had sat in front of an empty plate at the dinner table, saying, “Go ahead, son. I’ll get something later.” Nate hadn’t realized until he was seventeen that they were taking food off their own plates to feed him.

  That lasagna had been amazing, and now his parents could afford it again. “Yeah.”

  “How is your mom?”

  “She’s fine. They live out in Catonsville now.” Nate couldn’t resist the chance to remind Kellan why it had been so long since he’d had Mom’s lasagna. “She used to ask me why you never came to the house anymore. She wanted me to tell you you were always welcome.”

  Kellan shifted his weight from foot to foot and dropped his chopsticks into the bowl. “I bet she didn’t wonder long.”

  “If Geoffrey could have seen your negotiation skills just now, convincing me to help you, he’d probably set you up as a vice president tomorrow.”

  “Would that be with or without the blowjob part of the negotiation?”

  It killed Nate to admit it, but as long as Kellan had that stupid mistake to hold over him, he was always going to win. Nate folded his arms and nodded at Kellan’s bowl. “You done with that?”

  “Yeah. All done with seaweed and bean scum.”

  “Well, maybe tomorrow you can find a job and buy your own food. But don’t bring any meat into the house.”

  The downstairs door buzzed, the intercom giving Eli’s voice a rasp he’d never manage on his own. “Nate? It’s me.”

  Kellan snatched the bag holding the sweatpants off the counter. “Guess if company’s here, I’d better go wrap up the one kind of meat you like.” The bathroom door slammed behind him.

  Chapter Six

  KELLAN KEPT the bathroom door open a crack as he pulled the baggy sweats up his legs so he could get a handle on who Nate’s company was. When Kellan came up with his plan, he’d never stopped to wonder if Nate already had a boyfriend. Nate wouldn’t have agreed if he did, right?

  The apartment door opened, and a guy with a singsong voice and a British accent said, “What happened to you, Nate? Thought we were out on the pull tonight, you and me. Said we’d meet at J.J.’s.”

  “Christ, Eli, in three sentences you’ve gone from East London to Birmingham to Oxford. If you’re going to fake an accent to get laid, you might want to stick to one county. You’re not the only person who gets BBC America with basic cable.”

  Kellan did. Back in his bedroom suite, on the fifty-six-inch flat-screen. He even watched the channel enough to know what on the pull meant. Too bad Nate was about to get cock-blocked. This might be fun after the way Nate had to go and bring up Geoffrey again.

  “Yeah, like you’re the fucking expert, Mr. One Semester at Oxford.” Eli didn’t like Nate’s know-it-all shit any more than Kellan did.

  “Cambridge.”

  “What-the-fuck ever.” Eli would make his point better if he didn’t whine.

  “I’d explain it, but we’d be here all night.” No wonder Nate lived alone. With a head that big, there wasn’t room for anyone else. “C’mon.”

  “Whose shoes are those? Did you already get lucky?” Eli couldn’t have given Kellan a better opening if he’d handed the guy a script. “Jesus, those shoes are huge. Is he hung? Did you let him—?”

  Kellan tugged the sweats until they barely clung to his hips and put on the swagger he’d picked up when he’d been dating that girl who was on one of the CW soaps. He popped open the bathroom door, charged up behind Nate, and slung an arm around his neck. “Hey, baby, who’s this?”

  Eli turned out to be a few inches shorter and a whole lot skinnier than Nate, with black hair hanging in gray eyes that turned silver-bright with the black eyeliner around them. His skin looked smooth like a girl’s, lower lip pouting enough to make Kellan’s dick twitch in a way that had him thinking Eli knew how to work the whole gender-bending thing. Masculine jaw, but the cheeks and shiny lips, shit. Kellan didn’t know if he should bump shoulders with the guy or compliment his shoes in order to get laid.

  “Well, damn, he does fill out those… shoes.” Eli’s dark lashes dropped as he aimed an obvious look at Kellan’s package. Eli wasn’t doing the accent again, but his voice took on that singsong tone. “Eli Wright.” He offered his hand.

  Kellan kept his left arm hooked around Nate’s shoulders as he returned the handshake. Eli’s fingers were blunt, the grip strong, but the light caress on Kellan’s wrist as Eli pulled his hand back made Kellan forget to offer his own name in greeting.

  Eli added a wink. “You look really familiar. I know that sounds like a line, but I swear I’ve seen you somewhere.”

  “This is Kellan,” Nate said as he detached Kellan’s arm, but Kellan turned the motion into holding hands.

  “His boyfriend,” Kellan added with the first real grin he’d felt on his face all day. Damn, that had been fun to say, especially the way Nate squeezed back like he’d break Kellan’s fingers while Eli’s pretty mouth turned into a perfect O as he gasped.

  “That was fast,” Eli said after a pause.

  “We’ve—we’ve been having a long distance thing,” Nate stammered. “But—”

  “I hated being away from him all the time, so we decided to live together,” Kellan cut in. Nate was going to need some practice lying. Kellan turned and kissed Nate’s temple, getting a whiff of his hair. It smelled… good. Not like anything. Not like sweat or shampoo or cologne, just good.

  “When?” Eli’s question seemed kind of choked off, like there was more he wanted to ask but couldn’t get it into words.

  “This afternoon. Nate didn’t even know I was coming to Baltimore. I’m a big surprise.”

  “Well, I guess that takes care of my next question.” Eli was back to his pouty-lipped self.

  “What was that?”

  “I was going to ask if you wanted to fuck.” Eli winked again, and his tongue made one hell of a promise before flicking back into his mouth.

  Shock relaxed the grip Kellan had on Nate, and he freed his hand. Damn. If you could talk to girls like that, it would sure save a hell of a lot of time—not to mention cash and hangovers. Gay guys definitely had an advantage.

  Nate saved Kellan from having to figure out how to answer that. “Eli.”

  “What?” Eli held up his hands. “The way you talked about tonight, I didn’t figure you guys were exclusive or anything. But if Kellan just got here, I guess you guys will be busy.”

  “Hey, I don’t want to wreck anyone’s plans.” Kellan shrugged and recaptured Nate’s hand. “You guys go out like you were planning, and I’ll crash. I’m kind of beat from the trip.”

  “Come with us,” Eli offered.

  Nate tried to free his hand again. “We should probably both stay in.”

  Kellan felt the tension making Nate’s body rigid. What would it take to make him snap? “You go, baby. You wore me out earlier.” Kellan winked at Eli.

  “Kellan.” Eli raised his palm and gave his forehead an audible smack. “Fuck me, you’re Kellan Brooks. Like Brooks Blast Energy Drinks. But how is that long distance? I thought you lived around here.”

  Kellan leaned back against the counter. “Well, you know my dad. Nate’s been great about keeping a lid on things, but finally I said ‘Fuck it’ and ha
d to be real, you know?”

  Eli’s eyes fluttered wide. “That is so amazing. What did your dad do?”

  “Threw me out on my ass with nothing more than the clothes on my back.”

  “Wow.” Eli looked from Kellan to Nate and blinked again. “You guys need a theme song or something. So that’s why you’ve been watching all those websites and stuff. Weren’t you engaged, like, to a woman?”

  “A beard.” Nate suddenly came to life. “Okay, let’s get moving. You rest up, honey.” Nate’s lips twisted in a smile that was almost three-quarters grimace. “I’ll be back to wear you out again later.”

  Eli looked from Nate to Kellan like he was starting to think he’d missed the joke. Kellan hooked a finger through Nate’s belt loop as he was about to disappear through the door. “What, no kiss goodbye?”

  Nate glared a warning, but Kellan hauled him into a kiss anyway. As Kellan put his hands on either side of Nate’s face, the bristles prickled his palm, but the hair in the full goatee was soft when Kellan put his lips on Nate’s mouth. Nate softened for a second, maybe just for show, but Kellan couldn’t resist the dare. He parted his lips and let his tongue slide along the seam of Nate’s lips until with something like a growl, Nate opened his mouth.

  Kellan slipped his tongue in and they were really kissing, soft at first, then Nate grabbed Kellan’s ass and hitched him closer, mouth opening wider, hips grinding, and maybe this dare had gone a little too far. It didn’t feel like kissing a girl, not even one who liked things a little rough. The tongue action might be almost the same, but there was no hiding the fact that Nate wasn’t a girl, not with the strength in the grip that shifted to Kellan’s hips, and definitely not with the tickle of that hair against his lips and cheek. Nate tipped up his jaw and moved one hand to the back of Kellan’s head, the other a hard press on Kellan’s waist. Nate’s tongue slid past Kellan’s to stroke and tease, and Kellan was having trouble remembering exactly why it had seemed like a good idea to push Nate’s buttons.

  Nate’s hand slid down from Kellan’s waist to cup his ass again, not the hard grip like before, but a teasing caress. Nate released Kellan’s head. “Feel free to wait up for me, baby.” Nate’s voice was husky, teasing Kellan’s ear like a brush of soft fingers. “You ready?”

  For a second, Kellan thought Nate was talking to him, and though Kellan didn’t know for sure what he was about to say he was ready for, he knew that those kind of kisses and a husky teasing voice were just how Nate managed to get himself laid.

  Eli answered, “Uh, yeah. Okay. Are you sure you want to go?”

  Now Kellan was the one who couldn’t seem to figure out what to say.

  “Yeah. I’m good.” Nate winked at Kellan and stepped through the door. Oh, he was, the sneaky bastard.

  “I CANNOT believe you’re fucking Kellan Brooks,” Eli said for the hundredth time since they’d left the apartment.

  Nate should know by now that even his fifth Smirnoff Ice wouldn’t chase the tingle of that kiss off his lips. “Why is it so surprising? I fucked you once.”

  Eli hid his reaction under the fall of his bangs, and Nate buried a wince in the new bottle the bartender had put in front of him. He wasn’t always such a mean drunk.

  “Yeah, well, everyone knows I’m easy,” Eli shot back.

  That had been a mistake. Kind of like feeding a stray. The paper had hired Eli as a photographer a couple of months ago, and his flattery and sex-on-legs appeal had gotten Nate’s dick up that sweet ass in about three days. He should have known better than to fuck a coworker, and a young one at that—since Nate felt like the gap in their ages was closer to twenty years instead of the actual seven. Should have known that Eli’s effervescent adoration would turn him into a barnacle Nate couldn’t peel off. And it was his own fault for letting the flattery go to both his heads.

  As Nate stared into the half-empty bottle of Smirnoff, he wondered if that was the way he’d made Kellan feel, smothered under the weight of too much attention. Was that what had driven him to be such a fucking dick that year?

  Nate realized Eli was yelling something in his ear over the thumping mix from the DJ, something that didn’t sound like his refrain of “I can’t believe you’re fucking Kellan Brooks.”

  “What?” Nate yelled back, leaning closer.

  “I said, ‘What are you guys going to do now?’ I mean, like, about his dad? Is it a secret still?”

  Some perverse part of Nate wanted to tell Eli that it was a secret, prolong the weird dynamic of a pretend version of the boyfriend Nate had dreamed of living with at thirteen, but he yelled back in Eli’s ear, “No. Kellan’s tired of being in the closet.” God, they were really doing this. “He doesn’t care what his dad does.”

  “That is so cool.”

  No, it was exploitative. What Kellan was doing was wrong. Nate started to say something, but Eli went on with that familiar infatuated gleam in his eyes.

  “I can’t believe he’d walk away from all that money. He’s a hero. You should totally do something for the paper. I bet Jess could write up something really cool, not too corny.”

  That was exactly what Kellan wanted. Geoffrey would settle twenty million dollars on him the second the bigger papers picked the story up. Then Kellan could issue his ha-ha, it was just a big joke retraction.

  Everyone would believe it was another one of his stunts. And Eli and every other gay kid who’d ever had their parents tell them they were a disgusting mistake would take it like the gut punch it was. Nate was crazy to have agreed to this. “We’ll think about it.”

  “But I get to do the shoot, right?”

  “Yeah, I’ll make sure.”

  “Thanks, Nate.” Eli kissed him. “So you mind if I go dance?”

  “I’ll come with you.” Maybe the beat pounding up through his bones would help him forget how fucked-up everything was. Stop the plant or set back gay rights? Let Kellan keep playing gay chicken or stop testing the boundaries of consent?

  Eli kept a good space between them, which was what Nate would expect for a guy showing off to garner some attention. Watching him dance, Nate remembered why he’d had Eli’s pants around his ankles three days after he met him. He moved like he didn’t have a spine, fluid, twisting, hips and ass inviting touch with every swivel. Nate turned away from repeat temptation and found himself staring at a shirtless chest, hard jaw, and intent dark eyes. The other man rocked them together once, then stepped back, gaze dropping to Nate’s crotch as he licked his lips and tipped his head in invitation.

  Nate’s lips might still be tingling from a kiss that had gotten out of hand, but his dick was rock-hard at the promise in this stranger’s eyes. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d gotten off with someone.

  He glanced back. Eli was dancing with another goth-like twink. He’d be fine. Better than fine if he’d stop chasing guys who were too old for him. Nate started to follow the other man through the crowd.

  A hand yanked him back.

  “Where are you going?” Eli yelled in his ear.

  “To pee, all right?”

  “No. You’re going to get your dick sucked. I can’t believe it. After everything he gave up for you?”

  “Trust me. Kellan won’t mind at all.”

  “You didn’t see the way he looks at you.”

  “Jesus, Eli, mind your own fucking business.” Nate wrenched himself away, but the tall, shirtless guy was gone. And he wasn’t waiting by the men’s room or anywhere else. Nate went back to the bar and downed another two bottles of Smirnoff Ice before Eli found him to deliver another lecture.

  By the time Eli did find him, Nate was so smashed he had to transfer his grip from the edge of the bar to Eli’s shoulder to stay on his feet.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you, Nate? I mean, now I get why you’ve been such a bitch at work with this shit hanging over your head, but you’ve got this amazing guy who gave up everything for you, and you’re acting like a total fucking asshole.”

  ?
??Oh yeah. He’s amazing. I’m an asshole. Closest I’m getting to one for another fucking month anyway.” Nate knew it was a stupid joke, but he laughed anyway.

  “What?” Eli started to drag him out of the Arena.

  “Nothing. Where’d your little doppelgänger go?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve been looking for you.”

  “Go on. Get laid. At least one of us should.”

  “Did you guys get into a fight or something?”

  “No. Just—” Outside, he took a breath of air misted with spring rain and straightened up. “Forget about me. Go back in.”

  “I’m not leaving you here like this for some bashers to find.” Eli shoved Nate up against the bricks of the alley, holding him with one arm while digging through Nate’s pockets. “Fuck me.”

  “You were really a good time, Eli, but I’ve got a lot on my… dick, right now.” Nate laughed again, turning his face into the rain, which was coming down harder.

  “And you thought I was immature. Nate, I can’t get you home like this. Do you have money enough for a cab on you?”

  Nate shoved his hips forward. “’S all yours.”

  Eli reached in and grabbed Nate’s wallet. “You are so going to owe me for this. You’d better not fuck things up with Kellan either.” Eli dragged Nate out of the alley toward Eager Street.

  The only consolation Nate could figure was that when he dropped into bed next to a sleeping Kellan Brooks—please let him be sleeping—Nate would be too drunk to suffer another round of blue balls.

  Chapter Seven

  A BABY cried and jerked Kellan out of a sound sleep.

  But there couldn’t be a baby. He wasn’t ready for a baby. And no matter how much Delia had talked about waiting, he knew she had the kids’ names picked out and got this dreamy look when she saw a kid in a stroller on the street.

  He lay there, heart pounding as he remembered where he was. Nate’s place. He turned his head to look at the human lump next to him on the equally lumpy fold-out sofa bed.