FOURTEEN
Roman watched as Leo leaned close to the man at the counter and talked to him. He tried not to look as uncomfortable here as he felt, but he had a feeling everyone who looked at him knew he was about two seconds from walking out.
Leo laughed at something the man said, then leaned over the bar to say something in the man’s ear. Roman felt his brows pull together as he watched them, still walking forward. His foot came down on something that obviously wasn’t the floor. “I’m sorry.”
The guy touched his arm. “No worries,” he said just as Roman jerked back. Roman’s eyes immediately shot up, looking around the room to see if anyone had noticed them. When he looked back at the smaller man, he could see the confusion on his face. Shame rolled through him. The guy had only been trying to be nice, and Roman what? Thought the guy was hitting on him?
“It’s no problem. I’m sorry,” he said, but the guy was already walking away.
When Roman glanced over again, Leo was still leaning over the counter, talking to the same man, and Roman really did almost walk out. What was he doing here? He didn’t belong in this place.
But he couldn’t. He couldn’t fucking walk out, and he wasn’t sure if he was happy about that or not.
Roman kept going. He made his way to the man Leo spoke to. Thumb drumming on his arm, Roman waited as they finished their conversation.
Leo made the man a drink, took his money, and then the guy made space for Roman. “Um…hey.” Um, hey? Was he twelve?
“Um, hey to you too.”
He could hardly hear Leo over the music, so he leaned closer. “It’s packed in here.” Which really made him wonder again what he was doing here. It wasn’t as though they could talk…or maybe that was the point.
Leo shrugged. “People like to have fun. What do you want? It’s on the house.”
Roman shook his head. “Nothing for me tonight. I’ve had enough alcohol for a while.”
Leo frowned.
When someone bumped into Roman, he jerked away, then looked around to see if anyone noticed. His pulse beat too rapidly, and he felt almost claustrophobic as he stood in the busy club.
“Are you okay?” Leo asked.
“Fine,” he snapped, then silently cursed himself. He was losing his fucking shit for no reason. No one paid him any attention. They didn’t care if he was here or not. “I’m just… I’m going to get out of the way. I’ll be at the end of the bar.”
He didn’t wait for Leo to respond before walking down to where the edge of the bar met the wall. It was an empty corner, and Roman took advantage.
Leo was staring at him; he didn’t have to look his way to know it. Still, he did, and he saw the question in his eyes, but then someone ordered a drink and he gave Roman his back.
All the bartenders were running around like crazy. Roman wasn’t there long before someone brought him a stool and a glass of water, saying Leo sent them.
Jesus, what was wrong with him? This shouldn’t be a big deal. He was at a club, waiting for a…friend. Thinking of Leo that way so quickly still felt foreign.
He rarely took his eyes off Leo. He flirted with every other customer and they all flirted back. There was a freedom to him, a confidence he didn’t have when they were kids.
He sipped his water, his eyes only drifting from Leo to watch people in the club. The openness of the men dancing and kissing. He shouldn’t be surprised, and in a lot of ways he wasn’t. Still, he found his eyes drawn to them.
As two o’clock got closer, the club started to empty. He shouldn’t have come so late, shouldn’t have stayed so late, sitting here alone. Or at least he shouldn’t have hidden out in the corner the whole time.
He leaned against the counter as Leo made his way to him. Just as he did, a man with shaggy, red hair approached him. “It’s the end of the night. I’ve been waiting for you.”
Roman didn’t realize his hands were fisted until he felt his blunt nails dig into his palms.
“No can do. Not tonight. Sorry. He’s with me.” Leo nodded toward Roman.
“He can come along if he—”
“No,” Roman cut him off. Who the fuck did this guy think he was? He didn’t know Roman. He obviously knew Leo, but Roman had waited for him, and he wasn’t going to sit quietly while Leo left with someone else to get laid.
“Ah, a possessive one. Maybe another time,” the guy said as he walked away. When Roman looked up, he saw Leo biting back a smile.
Roman wasn’t sure what the smile meant, so he ignored it and asked, “Does that happen to you all the time?”
Leo didn’t answer him. Still smiling, he said, “Let’s go. They’re letting me cut out right now. Do we need to get your car?”
“No.” Roman shook his head. “I took a cab. Where are we going?” Roman asked him when they stepped out into the still busy night.
“My place, unless you have somewhere else for us to go.”
He didn’t. Though he wasn’t sure why he met Leo at the club if the two of them just went back to Leo’s house afterward, or what they planned to do there at two in the morning.
A low ache formed deep in his gut, but to his surprise, it wasn’t one of dread or disgust. It was curiosity, he thought. Roman added that to the list of things he was ambivalent about, the list of things he was still trying to figure out. “You didn’t answer my question, about getting hit on and propositioned often.”
Leo shrugged, wrapping his arms around himself. The fall air had a nip to it. Soon it would be cooler, and he wondered if Leo still walked back and forth to work when the weather cooled down. “Yes.”
“Do you take them up on their offers often?”
Leo chuckled. “Yes, and I’m even the one to initiate things sometimes. I like to flirt. I like men. I have nothing tying me down. There’s no reason I shouldn’t enjoy my life. I haven’t hidden who I am, not once after you left. I like sex. I like sex with men. If I see someone I want to fuck and they want to fuck me too, we do it and then go on with our lives. It shouldn’t have to be a big thing.”
But it had been, for them, when they were young; it had been. Roman didn’t know why it had been that way between them. If he’d truly just needed someone, anyone, to call his own. But whatever the reason, he knew what they’d shared had been a big fucking deal back then. It had changed his life.
They were almost at Leo’s apartment now. Roman shifted uncomfortably as they walked, trying to keep his thoughts out of the past. “Have you ever been serious about anyone?” Roman asked. It took Leo a moment to reply. When he did, he turned to look at Roman and winked.
“Not since you. But then, I was just a dumb fucking kid then. Didn’t know what the hell I was thinking.”
Leo turned and headed toward his apartment complex. Roman waited, watching him walk away. He could easily do the same, but he didn’t. Instead, he continued to follow Leo inside.