0215543001348293036 vaughn piper oshea m.j. (11 page)

But his impromptu arrival at my door earlier had thrown off my plan for the day, which was to read at least one of the e-books Bill had sent me last month. They’d been sitting on my hard drive untouched for the last few weeks. I knew I couldn’t put off reading them for very much longer. If I had to revise the entire novel, I couldn’t really afford to waste any more time. There was a lot of work to be done, but I still needed to figure out whether or not writing a gay romance was something I could even see myself doing in the first place.

Just do it. No more hesitating.

I bit my lip and pressed the button. I’m not sure why I felt a little guilty as the file opened. I’d already seen the cover—a pair of brawny male torsos set above a city skyline—and it wasn’t as if I was a kid sneaking off with one of my father’s copies of
Hustler
or something. I hadn’t made it five pages into the one I found tucked under the couch cushions when I was in seventh grade before I slammed the thing closed in horror and put it back. That had been the extent of my exposure to naked women. At least bare-chested men were a much more common sight, and didn’t make me anywhere near as uncomfortable.

I inspected the image closely and tried to envision my name on something similar. It wasn’t the type of cover I was used to, but I supposed it wouldn’t be too bad. I heard Bill’s voice saying “sex sells” in my head, and I guessed he had a point. There were probably plenty

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of people out there who would think the cover was sexy. As for me, I didn’t really get it… but that wasn’t much of a surprise. There were a lot of things I didn’t get.

I sucked in a deep breath and started scrolling past the copyright and acknowledgement pages to the first chapter.
Here goes nothing….

IT TOOK me a minute to recognize the sound that pulled me out of the story. Knocking. Someone was at my door. I looked down at the clock.

It had only been about an hour since I’d sat down at my laptop, but I’d been so focused on the screen my vision was a bit fuzzy. I hadn’t expected to get so engrossed in the book, but the writing was really good, and I was enjoying the main character’s voice. So far nothing had happened between him and the guy I assumed was his love interest, but their banter was hilarious. I’d even laughed out loud a few times.

The knocking came again. I got up and shuffled toward it, wondering who it could be at almost ten at night. As I got closer I heard a voice calling my name and realized it was Rue. My stomach instantly clenched up.
Alice. What if something happened to Alice?

I bolted forward the last few steps and yanked the door open. Rue was clearly upset, but Alice looked fine, if a little disgruntled at being awake and strapped into her car seat when she should’ve been in bed.

“Wh-what is it?” My heart was pounding fast. Whatever it was, it had to be bad.

“It’s Dusty,” Rue said tensely. “He’s down by Two Koi with his boyfriend, and something happened. He needs me to come pick him up, but I don’t want to go alone.”

“I’ll come.” I didn’t even think twice about it. In the past few weeks I’d come to think of Dusty as something of a friend. If he needed help, I’d do whatever I could.

Rue’s relief was obvious. “Thank you.”

I grabbed my coat and shrugged it on, then snagged my keys from their place on a hook beside the door. “All r-ready?” I asked as I

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stepped out into the hallway and locked the door behind me. “Need anything for Alice?”

“I have her diaper bag. We shouldn’t be gone too long.”

“Okay. Want me to take her?”

“Yeah, if you don’t mind. I’m a little bit….” Rue didn’t have to finish for me to understand what he meant. He was gnawing on his lower lip, his distress palpable. I’d never seen him so anxious.

I reached out to take the car seat from him and tugged down the pink cover, which had bunched up around the top, so Alice would be protected from the wind.

Rue turned toward the stairs. “Come on. He was crying when I talked to him. I’m worried.”

I followed him out to the car and got Alice settled in the backseat.

Within a few minutes, we were headed downtown with Rue gripping the steering wheel in white-knuckled fists.

“Did he say what happened?” I asked into the uneasy silence.

Rue shook his head. “No, he wouldn’t tell me. He just said he didn’t want to be there when Gary came out of the restaurant.” I frowned. That sounded bad.

Ten minutes later we saw just how bad it was. Rue pulled to a stop in front of a restaurant with two colorful koi fish painted on the front window. Dusty was a few feet away from the entrance, and there was another guy with him. The guy, who I could tell was uncommonly tall and muscular despite the distance that separated us, was holding on to both of Dusty’s arms and shaking him. I could hear him shouting even over the hum of the heater and the closed windows. Rue slammed the gearshift into “park” and was out of the car in a flash.

He was halfway to them and yelling for the guy to let Dusty go before I managed to get my door open.

The guy—Gary, I assumed—released Dusty and took a step toward Rue.

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“What the fuck? Did he call you?” Gary asked, taking another step closer. “You need to mind your own fucking business,
Rufus
.” I wasn’t exactly sure what happened in my head right then. All I knew was Dusty was hurt, and Rue was in danger, and everything suddenly came into crystal-clear focus. I didn’t stop to question why I wasn’t scared or nervous; I just acted.

“Stop,” I said, surprising even myself with how strong and level my voice was.

Rue and Gary froze. The latter looked at me with one eyebrow arched. “Who the fuck is this guy?”

“Rue, Dusty, get in the car, please.”

Gary scowled. “Look, I don’t know who the hell you think you are but—”

“Rue,” I said calmly. “Take Dusty and get in the car, okay? Alice needs you.”

My words seemed to snap Rue into action. He cautiously stepped around Gary, who was staring at me with his chest heaving and his fists balled at his sides, and wrapped an arm around Dusty’s shoulders. Gary would have tried to stop them if I hadn’t moved to block his path.

He came at me until he was right in my face. The guy had maybe five or six inches on me, and he used his height to his advantage, looming over me until I was forced to crane my neck back to look up at him. I stood my ground, though. I let him crowd me and kept my eyes on his. I still didn’t know where my unexpected surge of bravery had come from, and at that moment I didn’t care.

“You should keep your nose out of shit that doesn’t concern you,” he hissed.

Gary was close enough that I could smell the alcohol reeking from his breath and pores. I lifted my chin another notch. I’d been dealing with bullies like him all my life and, frankly, I was sick and tired of it. I wasn’t about to let him hurt either one of my friends. In a fight he’d probably win, but I had no intention of backing down.

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He must have seen something in my eyes that said as much, because he eventually stopped hulking over me and took a step back.

“Don’t think this is finished.”

I didn’t bother to reply, just turned on my heel and walked away.

He could have made his move then, and I halfway expected it, but I made it to the car unscathed. Whatever kept him from acting, I was glad for it. Could have been a sense of grudging respect after I’d stood up to him, or maybe the fact that, even drunk, he wasn’t stupid enough to outright attack me in public, but it really didn’t matter. We were going to make it out of here without any type of physical altercation, and that was a relief in and of itself.

“I’ll see you later, Dustin!” Gary shouted as I pulled open my door. The words were heavy with menace. I got into the passenger seat and slammed the door shut without looking back at him.

Rue immediately pulled away from the curb. I turned in my seat to glance back at Dusty. He was huddled against the rear driver’s-side door with his face buried in his hands.

“Y-you okay, D-Dusty?” And there came the stutter. Oh, well. At least it had stayed away when I needed it to.

Dusty dropped his hands and met my gaze. “I….” He drew in a shuddery breath and shook his head. Tear tracks marked his cheeks, and the right side of his face was a bit swollen. There was a smudge of blood on his lower lip on that side, too, and I realized abruptly that Gary had done more than just shake him a little. I’d been too focused on Gary earlier to notice, but Dusty looked like he’d been slapped.

Maybe even more than once.

My stomach twisted with sudden rage. That bastard. He’d stood almost half a foot taller than me, but even I had a few inches on Dusty and probably a good twenty pounds too. Dusty wouldn’t have had any kind of chance against him. It made me sick to think of Gary taking advantage of Dusty’s smaller size to hurt and intimidate him.

“Has he h-hit you before?” I asked when Dusty didn’t continue.

Dusty looked away without answering.

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“He has!” Rue said, sounding furious. “I knew something was going on. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It only happened a couple times.” Dusty’s voice was thick with tears. “And only when he’s had too much to drink. He promised it wouldn’t happen again.”

“Dammit, Dusty, that’s the oldest line in the book!”

“I
know
.” Dusty gave a quiet little sob and buried his face in his hands again. “Just take me h-home.”

“No,” I said without thinking. “You should come back with us.

What if he comes looking for you?”

“Erik is right.”

I glanced over at Rue. He had a death grip on the steering wheel again and was obviously fighting to stay calm.

“You’re not going back to your place until we have the locks changed,” Rue continued. “You can stay with me as long as it takes.” Dusty sniffed. “But what about school tomorrow? I don’t have anything to wear.”

“It’s fine. You can borrow some of my clothes. We’ll stop on the way to school to pick up your car and stuff, okay?”

“Okay.”

WHEN we got back to our building, I carried Alice’s car seat up the stairs while Rue and Dusty trailed behind. Thankfully, she’d stayed asleep for the entire trip. The drive home had been awkward enough with Dusty crying in the backseat, Rue stewing silently in the front, and me not having a clue what to say to try to comfort either of them.

Once we were in Rue’s apartment I told him I’d take care of Alice so he could concentrate on Dusty. Rue nodded gratefully and steered Dusty into his bedroom and closed the door.

Alice woke when I took her out of the car seat. I changed her and cradled her in my arm while I prepped a bottle of formula. She only

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drank about half of it before she started fussing. Soon it went from fussing to full-on crying. I tried to calm her down, but when her cries turned into outright screams I gave up and knocked tentatively on Rue’s door.

Rue pulled it open a couple of seconds later. “Sorry, I was just coming out. Let me take her.” He took Alice and the bottle of formula from my hands and tucked her against his chest. Alice quieted almost immediately. She turned her face into the material of Rue’s hoodie and gripped a handful in one tiny fist.

“Is everything okay?” I asked. Over Rue’s shoulder I could see Dusty sitting on the edge of the bed. He was wearing a pair of pajamas I recognized as Rue’s, and he still looked upset, but the tears had stopped, and the blood on his lip was gone.

Rue grabbed my arm and urged me a few steps down the hallway.

“Look, I know you’ve been with us for almost the entire day, and I hate to ask, but would you mind keeping Dusty company for a while? I’m gonna try lying down with Alice to see if I can get her to fall asleep again.”

“Sure.”

“Thanks so much, Erik. Seriously. I have no idea what I would have done about Gary if you hadn’t been there.” Rue brushed his bangs off his forehead and sighed. “That guy… God, I always knew he was an asshole, but I never thought….”

“It’s no problem. He was w-way out of line.”

“To put it mildly.” Rue sighed again. “I’m sorry about all this.”

“It’s okay.”

A soft sound from the doorway to Rue’s bedroom drew my attention. Dusty stood there with a sad expression on his face. “I’m sorry too,” he said. “To both of you. I shouldn’t have asked you to drive down there with Alice, Rues. I should’ve called a cab. I wasn’t thinking straight.”

“
Dusty
.” Rue moved toward him and kissed him on his unmarked cheek. “You were freaked out. I don’t blame you. That’s what I’m here

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for, babe.” He glanced at me over his shoulder. “Good night. I’m going to try to put Alice down. It’s probably close to midnight already. Dust, you know where all the extra blankets are in the linen closet, right?” Dusty nodded. “Yeah, I know. Just go to bed, hon.” Rue disappeared into his bedroom and shut the door behind him.

Dusty and I were left staring at each other in the sudden silence.

“Do you want some ice for your lip? I have one of those gel packs in my freezer.”

Dusty nodded and gave me a small smile, then winced when the action pulled at his split lip.

“Okay, I’ll be right back.” I turned toward the door, but Dusty spoke up before I could go more than a few steps.