Knight of Ocean Avenue (6 page)

Shaz looked up at Billy and must have figured he needed help. “Ruuuupert, I need you, darling.”

Through a door Billy hadn’t noticed before in the back wall came a guy who looked like a fashionable nerd. Tight plaid trousers with a white shirt, suspenders, a bow tie, and dark-rimmed glasses. Actually, kind of good-looking in a weird sort of way, but it was hard to notice anyone else with Shaz around. The guy pulled your eyes like a masterpiece by some famous painter. Monet or Van Gogh or somebody.

The man named Rupert kind of minced his way over to Billy and Shaz. “Yes, dear? You screamed?”

“Ru, this is Billy Ballew. A new client.”

Ru made a slow appraisal, from Billy’s scuffed sneakers to his sloppy sweatshirt and up to his uncut hair. “Oh my. Are you going to do him next?”

Shaz looked up at Billy through his dark lashes. “I’d love to do him, darling, but sadly I think we’re just sprucing him up for the ladies.”

Ru grinned. “What a waste.”

Jesus, Billy half wanted to run and half wanted to laugh.

Rhonda smacked Shaz’s shoulder. “Behave yourself. Billy’s so red they may have to call the fire department.”

Shaz smiled. “It’s all right. I love firefighters too.” He pulled on Billy’s arm. “Don’t mind me, Billy. Let’s sit you down and look at the hair, shall we?”

Billy let himself be hauled to the chair. The feelings he’d had at his mother’s house were creeping back. Spinning head. Couldn’t breathe.

The receptionist put a bottle of tea on the counter for him, and he grabbed it and took a sip; then he landed in the chair and was suddenly staring at himself with Shaz behind him. Beauty and the Beast. He gazed at his shoes.

Warm fingers slipped into his hair.
No way. This isn’t happening
. They pulled at his waves and scraped across his scalp.

“Billy, let your hair keep growing for another week, then we’ll style it for the wedding, okay?”

Rhonda said, “But it’s so messy. Shouldn’t you cut it now? We kind of want him to look great for, you know, social events leading up to the wedding.”

Billy peeked up at Shaz.
Big mistake
. The man had poised himself so that his head was directly above Billy’s. “Rhonda darling, are you so blinded by your beautiful fiancé that you can’t see how fabulous this hair is? Rich brown, perfect waves.”

Mitch muttered, “Yeah. It’s damned great.”

Rhonda frowned at her fiancé.

Mitch kind of ducked. “I mean, hell, what guy wouldn’t want hair that thick?”

Shaz slipped his hands into both sides of Billy’s hair and threaded it through his fingers.

Dear God, I’ve made it to purgatory
. Billy shifted in his seat.
Cannot breathe
. “Is it hot in here?”

Rhonda patted his shoulder.

Shaz looked at Rhonda. “What we’ll do at our next appointment is clean up those eyebrows, give his skin a good work over, and, of course, do some shopping and tailoring.”

Rhonda bounced. “That sounds so great. When? Can you do it soon?”

“Ru, when can we begin?”

Ru’s eyebrows tightened over his nose as he searched through his tablet. “Hmm. We’ll have to work him in, but I think we can shuffle some things to start Monday.”

Rhonda squeezed Billy’s shoulder. Shaz kept stroking his head. The heat from his fingers seeped into Billy’s brain. There was some kind of smell, like maybe lavender or something. It was so strong—and so great. Good God, his cock was twitching. He squirmed, and Shaz just kept talking to Rhonda and massaging his head. He had another head in his pants that wanted massaging.
This is so not good
. Damn, if his sister looked down and saw him with a hard-on, what the hell would she think? Worse, what if Shaz saw it? He’d totally get the wrong idea. He had to get out of here. Needed air.

Breathe through your mouth. Then you can’t smell how delicious he is
. “When should I come on Monday?” Hell, if this kept up, he’d come now.

Ru looked at the tablet again. “How about four?

Good
. He leaped up and pulled his sweatshirt down. Shaz stepped back and looked startled as Billy started toward the door. “Okay, good. Monday. I’ll be here at four. Thanks a lot. Sorry to run. I just realized I’m late. Have a, uh, date. Sorry. Thanks again. See ya.”

He made it to the exit.

“Billy!”

“Sorry, sweetie, gotta go. Love you. Bye.”

He heard Mitch say, “What the hell got into him?”

Shaz laughed. That laugh was like music. “I think all this styling business was too much for a first visit. Give him some space.”

How come of all the people in the room, the gay guy was the one who got it? Well, kind of.

Billy hurried across the waiting room and burst through the front door. He couldn’t get to the truck fast enough. Running the three blocks to the parking place he’d been lucky enough to find, he jumped inside and stopped. This was the second time in two days he’d run. What the hell was he running from?

He cranked up the truck and started to drive. He should go home.
Turn around and head south. Yeah.

He shivered. All he could feel were those hands in his hair. Maybe he just didn’t get enough physical contact with other people. Having somebody touch him like that, so kind of intimate. It screwed the wiring and confused him.

He kept driving north.

Shit.

He knew what that meant.

He’d only done it once, but it had been so amazing.

Dangerous. Diseases and shit
.

What if he used a condom? Would it still be great? Jesus, anything besides his own hand would be a miracle.

What if I see somebody I know?
That wouldn’t be the worst, since he’d have something on them too.

He was still driving north.

The ocean beat against the sand on his left as he powered from light to light up the Pacific Coast Highway.

Maybe just don’t think for a while.

Quiet. Ocean. Stoplights.

The short road came up on his right, a little side street in Seal Beach. The sign said Anthony’s. He’d found it in the beach city advertiser about four months ago. Just curious, he’d checked it out. Never quite knew why. It said they had darts. He liked darts.

On the next street over, a car pulled away and Billy grabbed the spot. Shit, that was luck. He maneuvered the old truck and turned it off. Was he doing this? His cock throbbed. Just not getting enough from his own damned hand. There were female prostitutes, but he didn’t know where. Plus the idea was too scary. Too disgusting. Guys were easy.

Just do it.

He hopped out of the truck, hit the lock, and walked down the dark street on the narrow sidewalk. A left turn took him past an alley. Noise. He stopped and listened.

“Unh, unh. Yeah, do it.”

Shit, his cock leaped. It sounded like his porno. He sped up, walked straight to the door of the bar, and pushed inside on one big rush of energy.
Whoa
. Body to body. Hot, noisy, smelling of aftershave and beer.

He slipped by a man who was blocking the door while flirting with another guy who was leaning against the wall. “Excuse me.”

The guy looked up and up some more. “Uh, sure, buddy.”

Billy eased his way between bodies to the bar. Every seat was taken, but he leaned between two guys and raised a hand at the big, hairy bartender.

The man leaned over and yelled, “What’ll it be?”

“Beer. Whatever you’ve got on draft.”

The bartender grabbed a glass, stretched over to the tap, and filled it. Billy threw ten bucks on the bar, grabbed the beer, and stepped away. Shifting a little, he finally got his back to the wall.
You don’t have to stay. You don’t have to do anything. You can just drink your beer and go
.

A guy who looked like he might be an accountant wearing a business suit and open tie sidled over to Billy. “Hi. Need another beer to go with that one?” His laugh sounded kind of nervous.

“No thanks. Waiting for someone.”

“Sorry, beautiful.” The guy walked away.

Damn. I should leave. This is stupid
. He looked up over his glass.
Holy God
. Standing with a group of men in the center of the room was a twink. Small, graceful, blond, with some stuff on his eyes that made them look huge and pretty. Stuff like Shaz used. Billy knew about this guy’s eyes because they were staring right at him. He felt his cock start to stretch and cracked a half smile.

The guy smiled back, spoke to his companions, then walked toward Billy. Closer, his hair looked bleached and he had bad skin, but still attractive with great lips. He looked up. “Hi, I’m Perry.”

“Uh, John.”

The guy smiled. “Well, uh, John, want to buy me a drink? I like Dubonnet on the rocks.”

“Sure.”

Perry stayed by the wall while Billy pushed his way in and bought the Dubonnet. He got another beer for himself and carried the drinks back like a mighty hunter. Weird, buying fancy drinks for a guy.

“Thanks, big guy.” Perry sipped the red drink. He leaned closer. “So, what do you like?”

Billy frowned. “Uh, I should tell you I’m not gay.”

The boy’s lined eyes looked at him with pure laughter. “Sure. So you just like to come somewhere to get a decent blow job, right?”

“Yeah. You get that a lot?”

“Sure. A lot of straight guys come here.” He cocked a smile and took another sip. “So I assume you don’t like to give as well as receive.”

“Uh, yeah.”

“So you’d be buying me a couple bottles of Dubonnet, right? And maybe some champagne to go with it?”

He swallowed. “Uh, how would I do that?”

The guy gave a half smile. “You wouldn’t have to. You could just give me the money and I’d do it.”

Duh. How dumb can I be
? “Yeah, sure. I can do that. You just tell me how much all those things will add up to, okay?” He should run like hell, but somehow a pro made it better.

“You have somewhere you want to go?”

“Uh, no. I live a long way from here.”

“Where are you parked?”

“A block away.”

“Okay, sweetheart. You give me, say, fifty dollars for my champagne, and I’ll take a trip to your car.”

Billy lowered his voice. “I’d want to use a condom.”

“That makes two of us. Come on, gorgeous. I’m going to enjoy the fuck out of this.”

Fifteen minutes later, Billy was hoping the fuck the cops didn’t come because he was screaming so loud he sounded like he was dying as his cock poured its load into the condom inside that guy’s mouth.

B
ILLY
WATCHED
the kids running toward him. He squinted in the sun and shifted his feet. His team depended on him. How the hell would their parents feel if they knew he was out getting blow jobs from gay guys?
Sick, man
.

They circled him like the crazy little monsters they were. He smiled. “Okay, guys, gather round.” He knelt, and the kids huddled up. Twelve kids. Seven boys and two girls on the regular team and three alternates who were all boys. “I’m sorry I have to leave early today, but I have an appointment.” Which he wished he could get out of. “Saturday we meet the Ravens. Are we ready?”

“Yes, coach!” the kids yelled as one. Mostly fifth graders, they reeked enthusiasm. He loved this age. They were cool, but not so cool that nothing was fun anymore. For him, eleven years old hadn’t been so great. Twelve had been shit. He’d do what he could to make it happy for his team.

“Practice your glove work, eat well, get lots of sleep. Get ready to win!” He put his hand in the middle of the circle, and the kids piled their mitts on top. “Go Tigers!”

The kids danced around, cheering. One boy, Willie Jenkins, glowed with happiness and stepped up and gave Billy a hug. Billy patted his back. This was one of the safe places for a kid like Willie. Billy saw to that.

The kid looked up, and his eyes got wide as he realized what he’d done. He blushed crimson and stepped back. “Thanks, Coach.” He ran off with his stuff, but not before Torkelson, the little shit, punched his arm. “Gay for the coach, Jenkins?”

Willie ducked his head and kept running.

Billy reached out a hand. “Yo, Torkelson.”

“Yeah, Coach.”

He grabbed the kid, one of the tallest boys on the team, and gave him a huge hug. The kid sputtered and yanked himself from Billy’s grasp. Billy smiled. “Hey, thanks for the hug, man.”

The kid stared at him like he half wanted to smile but wasn’t sure if Billy meant it. He glanced uneasily around, and a couple of the other kids giggled. Torkelson pulled down his cap and stalked off the field.

Billy walked to the bench and gathered his stuff.

“Hey, Coach.” Willie’s dad jogged up to him.

“Hi, Mr. Jenkins.”

“Carl.” The medium-height fireplug of a man stuck out his hand, and Billy shook it.

“Hey, I wanted to talk with you about Willie.”

Billy nodded.

“The kid’s having trouble toughening up, you know? Still spends too much time with his mom and loves games that are too young for him. Yeah, and too girly.”

Billy felt his spine stiffen. “Willie’s a really nice kid. I’d like to have more like him.”

The man frowned. “Yeah, but nice won’t pay the rent, you know? He gets bullied a lot, and the other boys make fun of him.”

Billy stood a little straighter. “Not when I’m around. Willie plays well, and I want all my players to be respected by their teammates.”

“Respected. Interesting choice of words.”

“Kids can like who they will, but if they want to play for me, they show respect to everyone.” He shoved his sneakers into his bag and pulled on his flip-flops. June in the OC was warm in the afternoon. Mornings brought June gloom.

“Well, that’s what I want to say. I think you’re a good role model. I don’t have much time what with my business and everything. I appreciate the time you spend with him.”

“It’s my pleasure.”