Something Beautiful (12 page)

"You sound down," Jamie said. "Having a bad day?"

"Having a weird day. My moms are moving, my dad is unusually nostalgic, and I ran into Gavin after I took Micah out to lunch."

"Gavin," Jamie said in a questioning tone.

"Gavin Marcus. Laird's brother. You met him at the barbeque. Lord, Jamie, haven't I told you about him?"

"No, Dunie, you haven't. You've made mysterious allusions to it and that's about it. So is he the evil bloke who broke your heart?"

Dune sighed. "You make it sound so melodramatic, but, yeah, that's pretty much what happened. We dated through college, then he left and I didn't follow." That wasn't quite the whole story, but he didn't want to get into the whole story. Jamie's reaction would not be pretty. "And today he asked if he could call me."

"Well, you told him no, so that should be the end of it."

Dune hesitated, then said, "No. That won't be the end of it."

"What do you mean?" Jamie asked, an edge of suspicion in his voice.

"Never mind. Now I'm the one being melodramatic."

"Dunie. Do I need to lump him one for you?"

Dune chuckled as if Jamie was joking. "No. He's bigger than you."

"Like that's ever stopped me. If I can't take him then Ben can." He held the phone away from his mouth and called, "You'll beat up Dune's evil ex for him, won't you, Benjie?"

"Sure, Jamie-lad," Ben called back.

"There," Jamie said into the phone. "You see? We've got your back."

"Thank you," Dune said, touched, though he knew it was a metaphorical beat down no matter how intimidating Ben could be. "Anyway, about movie night: yes. I'd love to come."

"Cool. We'll have about a half-a-dozen people, I think."

"Is there room for one more? I'd like to bring Micah along."

"Of course, if he wants to. He'll probably have to leave early, though, if he's got church in the morning."

"He'll probably be staying with me all weekend."

Jamie was quiet a moment. "Dune."

"Jamie," Dune said in the same tone.

"Have you and Micah got a little something going on that I don't know about?"

Dune took the phone away from his ear a moment to stare at the mouthpiece, since he couldn't stare at Jamie. "Me and Micah? No. We just like hanging out together. He wants to find an apartment in the city and he'll be living with me in the meantime. His parents are putting some pressure on him to get married and he needs to get away."

"They want him married? They've met him, right?"

"Presumably," Dune said. "I think they know a kid named Micah, anyway."

"Hm. Well, it's nice of you to keep him under your wing."

"He fits there," Dune said, confused.
 

Jamie laughed. "And everybody wants a place to fit. Ben and I have an appointment we need to get to -- call you later, yeah?"

"Sure. Take care." He hung up, shoved a hand through his hair and then sat down at his desk to write.

Social life, personal issues, family worries -- it was time to put all that aside and work.

Chapter Seven

Friday night. Dune was shirtless and sweaty on the dance floor at Zebra. There were a few new phone numbers in the pockets of his leather trousers and a big muscled top with a shaved head -- his name was Bill? Phil? Will? -- was dancing against his back, hand on Dune's belly, tracing the bones of his pelvis as they danced.

Oh yes,
Dune thought, lifting his hands over his head and rocking his hips, his eyes closed in the euphoria of dance.
Sex tonight.

"Get lost," someone said to Bill or Phil or Will and Dune opened his eyes to see Gavin standing in front of him.

"No," Dune said at the same time as Bill or Phil or Will.

Gavin gave Dune his most disarming smile and then a fierce, "don't fuck with me" look to Bill or Phil or Will. "I said, get lost. Dune and I have things to talk about."

Bill or Phil or Will scowled at them both. "You should have told me you had a boyfriend," he said, and sauntered away to find some other lovely thing to dance with.

Dune crossed his arms over his chest and wished he remembered what happened to his shirt. "What do you want?"

Gavin placed both hands on Dune's shoulders and lightly kissed his lips. "Hello," he said cheerfully. Dune shook him off and pushed through the dancers to the coat room. "Dune," Gavin called after him. "Dune. Dune!" Dune finally turned and saw that Gavin had fallen to his knees, his expression beseeching, his hands open in supplication. "Don't leave me this way, Dune."

"Is that offer open to anyone?" someone asked him, but Gavin ignored him, eyes only on Dune.

Dune scowled and went to him, grabbed a hand and pulled him to his feet. "Quit it, you drama queen."

"I just wanted you to notice me." The pleading look was gone, replaced by Gavin's habitual smirk. "They've still got those private rooms here, don't they?"

"Not that I'd go into any with you," Dune said.

Gavin looked at him a moment, then said, "Come on, let's sit down." Gavin took Dune's hand and led him to one of the small circular booths in the back of the club. Dune slid into the seat opposite Gavin, who picked up the cocktail menu and perused it in silence.

Two can play at this,
Dune thought, and inspected his fingernails.

At last Gavin said, "Why do you hate me?" without looking up.

Dune looked at him through half-closed eyes, brows lowered.

"Are you really this unforgiving?" Gavin said, finally putting down the cocktail menu. "Dune, I've changed. I've learned my lesson. I'm a new man."

"I don't believe you." He started to slide out of the booth.

Gavin leaned over the table and put his hands over Dune's. "I was young. We both were. I thought that's what love was. I know better now. Dune. I came back to the city for you."

Dune looked at Gavin and then pulled his hands away. "You can't just show up and apologize and expect everything to be forgiven. You were terrible to me."

"So let me make it up to you. Let me show you that I've changed. Come home with me tonight. I haven't unpacked much but I have a bed, since you don't want a private room."

Dune frowned. "We fuck and everything's fine. Right."

Gavin smiled at him, charming and confident. "Make-up sex is supposed to be the best kind."

Dune was about to answer when he felt an arm slide around his shoulders, and Micah dropped himself into Dune's lap. "Hello, gorgeous. I'm sorry I'm late."

"You're forgiven. I missed you," Dune said. He'd never been so relieved to see Micah. He wrapped his arms around Micah's slender waist and kissed Micah's cheek. Micah grinned and winked at Dune, then snuggled himself deep into Dune's arms.

"I had the worst time getting away. Crises always happen just before quitting time." He looked at Gavin, completely relaxed and not at all self-conscious about sitting on Dune's lap. "I've seen you around the
Chronicle
, haven't I?"

"I work the city beat." Gavin looked taken aback at Micah's brazen affection, but he recovered enough to say, "I'm Gavin. Laird's brother. We met on Labor Day."

"Oh! That's right. I'd forgotten you." Micah's normally sweet voice had an edge of steel to it. "I work at the paper, too. I'm in IT."

Gavin said, starting to smile, "So I know who to come to when my email crashes and my printer won't print."

"Yep, I take care of all that," Micah said cheerfully. "So be nice to my Dunie or I'll put girl-on-girl porn on your computer."

Gavin's smile lost a little of its shine. "Are you threatening me?"

"I'm just letting you know what's what," Micah said as lightly, as if they were talking about video games. "He's my Dune. Don't fuck with him."

"Dune?" Gavin said, eyebrows furrowing.

Dune shrugged helplessly at him. "What can I say? I'm his Dune."

"I see. I didn't know you'd taken up with toddlers." Gavin slid out of the booth. "I'll see you around, Dune."

Micah exhaled deeply when Gavin was out of earshot and moved off Dune's lap. "Sorry about that. You looked so unhappy I thought drastic measures were called for."

Dune kissed him. He intended it to be a simple thank-you kiss, but Micah tasted warm and sweet and smelled divine, like sweat and soap and night air. He pulled away after a moment that was probably too long and smiled. "Thank you."

"Welcome," Micah muttered, blushing high in his cheeks and looking into Dune's eyes.

Dune swallowed and looked out at the crowd. "So tell me about the date." A waiter in tight, black shorts finally wandered over and they both ordered drinks, Micah producing his ID with a resigned sigh.

"It wasn't that she was a bad date or anything," he said as he put his wallet away. "She was very nice. She hated that our parents had set us up like that, too. Turns out she has a boyfriend, but her parents don't approve of him, so they want to find somebody else for her to date."

"Thinking you're a perfect choice, of course." Dune shook his head sadly.

"Yeah. Anyway, after the movie we decided we'd made enough of an effort and went our separate ways. So I came here. It's early yet." He grinned and stretched out his arms across the back of the booth. "Plenty of time for dancing."

"Don't tell me you went on a date with sweet Bonnie Harris wearing this," said Dune, fingering Micah's black mesh shirt that left nothing to the imagination about his physique. His body was slender but strong, his chest and arms with just a hint of definition, his stomach smooth.

"Oh, no," Micah said. "I wore a regular shirt. I had this in the car."

"I like it," Dune said quietly, and smiled at the waiter who had finally returned with their drinks. The young man winked at Dune as he placed their glasses on the table, with an extra enthusiastic "Thank you!" when Dune paid him and told him to keep the change.

"So. Tomorrow. Most of my stuff is packed." Micah sipped his beer.

"What do your parents think?"

"My mom just said 'We'll talk about it.' That's all she ever says. I think the only way she's going to take me seriously is if I actually do it."

Dune nodded and tasted his martini. "And if you're drinking tonight you ought to stay with me, anyway," he said and wondered why it felt like saying "Come up and see my etchings, little boy." "Are you going to be okay on the daybed?"

"I'll be fine. I've been sleeping in little beds most of my life."

"Okay. So we'll get you moved in tomorrow morning."

"Cool. It's not much stuff, mostly books and games." Micah was nearly bouncing in his seat. "I'm going to live with you. I'm so excited."

"Me, too," Dune said, smiling at him. "And if we need more people I'll call Jamie and Dad and we'll pay them with beer and pizza. Tomorrow night we're invited to movie night at Ben and Jamie's, by the way. Want to go?"

Micah drank more beer and muttered, "Okay."

"We don't have to if you don't want to."

"You should go, if you want. I just -- Ben doesn't like me. I'm not really comfortable around him."

"Jamie likes you and I like you, so that's two against one. And Ben's a teddy bear, really. You just have to know how to handle him."

"Okay, so how do you handle him?"

"Just let him think he's getting his way." Dune smiled at Micah and played with his shaggy hair. "Let's at least get your hair cut this weekend, too."

Micah shook out his head. "I like it like this. I'm thinking about keeping the sideburns, and maybe growing a beard, too. Maybe then people will believe that I'm not a teenager with a fake ID."

"You're very manly without the beard," Dune said indulgently, and then laughed as Micah pounced on him and gave him a loud, smacking kiss on his mouth.