Chapter 15

Logan

Six days later. Saturday.

 

 

It’s just a little over two weeks until the marathon and I’ve been training every day after work. I’m excited because today I’m meeting Andrew in the park to go running.

As I’m brushing my teeth and getting ready for the day I hear a knock on my door.

“Do you want breakfast Cookie?”

Matt’s been so thoughtful since he’s been here. He’s always cooking or cleaning up and to be honest I’m getting a little spoiled by it. We haven’t even gotten into any fights since he’s been here… not that we ever have, but then again we’ve never lived together.

I call out. “Yes. Thanks babe. I’ll be right out.” Just then I hear my phone ring. It’s Brooke calling.

“Hey sunshine. Are you running today?” she says.

Brooke is sounding rather perky for this early, I think. “Well.” I start. “I am, but I’m going to be meeting Andrew today.”

She answers me with a sing-songy, ‘ooohhh’ sound before saying. “Good for you. Are you guys an item now?”

It still seems strange to me to think that Andrew and I are together. Even though that voice in my head is constantly reminding me to be careful…, are you sure you know what you’re getting yourself into Logan? You know he’s married… etc. etc... Despite all of this, I couldn’t be happier that we’re together.

This negativity and caution mostly happens when I’m not around Andrew. When we’re together, I know in my heart that I want to be with him and I think he wants to be with me.

“You could say that,” I tell Brooke. “It’s still in the early stages, but yes, we’re definitely an item. I mean, last weekend Andrew looked like he was pretty happy while he was sucking my dick.”

Brook screams. “Logan Daniels you’ve fully corrupted that poor man!”

We both laugh out loud and I say, “Hey it wasn’t like I had to twist his arm or anything.” All week I’ve thought about that night. God it was so fucking hot. I masturbated every night all week just thinking about Andrew and his sexy bod and big dick. Everything about that man is perfect and I’m aching to see him today.

Brooke says, “I’m jealous. But I’m so happy for you too. Hey when can I meet this new guy of yours?”

I want to ask Brooke if she’d like to tag along with me today, but, I’m feeling a little possessive and want to be alone and have Andrew all to myself, I decide. Maybe if all goes right today we’ll end up having hot sex again, like we did last weekend.

But I have an idea. “Why don’t you just happen to be jogging today around the same time as us and we can accidentally run into each other? Then I’ll introduce you to him.”

“Hmm.” Brooks starts. “What time are you guys meeting?”

“Around 1:00. Is that going to work for you?”

Brooke tells me to hold on before coming back. “I have an appointment at 12:30 to get my hair trimmed, but I’ll see what I can do afterwards.”

We hang up and I hear Matt calling out for me to come and eat.

Walking into the kitchen I see that Matt has prepared an elegant meal of eggs benedict, fresh fruit and English muffins. Matt teases, “Was that your big strapping daddy on the phone?

 Matt has been going on and on all week about Andrew. When I got home last weekend from my time with Andrew, he grilled me endlessly about every last detail of the evening. Matt seems to be slowly getting back to himself and I’m happy about that. “It was Brooke,” I say.

We begin eating but Matt suddenly seems unusually quiet, so to break the ice I casually ask, “What are you going to do today?” He puts his fork down and stops eating momentarily.

He doesn’t answer right away though, but takes a deep breath before looking at me. “I think I’ve found a place to move in to.”

I suddenly feel a rush of sadness over take me. I knew that Matt’s time here was temporary, but I began to love having him around. I realized that I liked having him here when I came home from work, or seeing him when I wake up announcing he’s made us breakfast.

Now solemn, I look at him and say, “Really?” I’m surprised at just how deep of an emotional response I feel and can only describe it as a feeling of loss or abandonment. I know it has nothing to do with this situation with Matt, but something deeper, possibly going back to my parent’s divorce.

Matt responds by saying, “Trust me when I say it has nothing to do with you or this place. I love being here with you, Logan. But now that you’ve met Andrew, I realize that I need to begin my life over. I feel like I’m in limbo right now. It’s my own shit that I need to work out, but that’s not going to happen staying here.”

I understand fully what Matt is saying. His life has been shattered and he needs to pick up the pieces and I need to let Matt go and start his life over. That’s the best and most selfless thing a friend can do for another friend. 

“You’re right, Matt. I’m going to miss having you here, but I totally get where you’re coming from.” Matt and I will always be together where it matters most… that is in our hearts. And he’s not moving out of Manhattan anyway.

Or is he?

I’m suddenly shook again. “Where is this place?”

Please don’t tell me you’re moving to Brooklyn Matt. I couldn’t take him living outside of Manhattan. We’d never see each other.

He looks like he’s hiding some sort of secret when he says, “It’s actually in this building.”

My eyes widen.

But before I can react, he scrunches his face in and asks. “Is that too weird? Because if it is, let me know.”

Suddenly I’m overjoyed. I get up from my chair and go to hug him. I can’t help but tear up some realizing that Matt is going to be so close by. Now I’ll have Brooke and Matt, my two best friends, right here with me.

“Oh my god,” I say. “We’re going to be Lucy and Ethyl.”

Matt screams. “Only if I can be Lucy! And I better begin finding my Ricky then, because you’ve already found your Fred.”

Matt stops himself and looks perplexed. “Oh my God, Andrew is like the farthest thing from Fred.”

I hadn’t realized until this moment that Matt had made his breakup with Gage official. I’m secretly glad he did and was hoping he didn’t go running back to him in some weak moment. That mother fucker doesn’t deserve someone like Matt and he can just fuck off as far as I’m concerned.

We end up finishing our breakfast and I go into my room to change. I feel better than ever right now and cannot wait until 1:00 comes.

 

*****

 

This afternoon is another one of those fall days where the air is crisp and the slight chill in the air is offset by the glorious sunshine. There is still a lot of color on the trees and once again, the park is packed.

Because of his height, I’m able to spot Andrew from afar. He gives me a warm smile as I approach and embraces me when our eyes meet.

He immediately compliments me. “You look beautiful today.”

I soak it all in. The air. His touch and voice. “You’re not so bad yourself,” I say. Probably a corny line, but maybe more appropriate than what I actually felt like saying, which was something like, ‘You look so good, I can fuck you right here.’

“Shall we?” Andrew asks. As usual, we begin our run going north.

 Our interaction up until this point is comfortable and natural and more than ever, Andrew seems at ease around me out in public. I ask him. “How was your week?”

He looks me up and down with his piercing blue eyes. “Better now that I’m with you.”

I guess he isn’t the only one who has lustful thoughts on his mind. It’s difficult not to, watching Andrew run with his long, exposed muscular legs and perfect ass standing out underneath his running short.

He gets a lot of stares by both women and men I notice. I think the women want to be with him and men want to look like him. Well, here in New York, a lot of men want to be with and look like him too and I can’t blame them.

Just then we see two obviously gay men walking towards us. As we approach them, they stop dead in their tracks and have their mouths wide open. They’re practically undressing the both of us with their eyes while we look at each other and laugh.

“They were looking at you.” Andrew says to me.

But I insist. “No, they were looking at you.” Just for fun I look back and notice the two men are still watching us. I look over to Andrew and tease him. “You must get a lot of that huh?”

But Andrew begins blushing. “I don’t really notice, quite frankly.” That’s when I playfully extend my arm over to him and swipe him.

He looks at me incredulously. “What? You don’t believe me?”

“No, actually I don’t,” I tell him. Andrew begins to laugh and I follow. I like how playful we’re being with each other. He seems like a different person from the one I first knew in the courtroom.

When I think back to the time after I lost to him at trial and how he asked me to join his firm, I realize Andrew was attempting to flirt with me. But the awkwardness of that interaction made me question it. During the trial he was Mr. Smooth and confident, but he turned into a bumbling idiot when it came to conversing with me.

The fact that I see such a growth in him gives me hope that our relationship could work. It probably took all his courage to approach me that day.

Just then I notice in the distance that a man appears to be struggling with his wheelchair.

We’re in a more remote area of the park now and no one is around to help. “Look.” I point out to Andrew. “Let’s go help that man.”

Concerned, Andrew tells me, “Logan, that guy looks homeless. Are you sure…”

But I interrupt him. “He needs our help Andrew,” I say.

As we approach the man, I can see the left wheel is caught in a groove where the concrete and grass meet. The man appears to be distraught. I turn to Andrew. “Andrew, help me lift this.” Between the two of us, we are able to easily lift the chair and place him back on the sidewalk.

“Thank you, thank you boys so much.” The man begins to tear up. “I cannot use my legs because I lost them fighting in Iraq.”

I’m deeply touched by the man’s gratitude and reach for my wallet to give him a twenty dollar bill.

“God bless you,” He says and looks at the twenty dollar bill like it’s five hundred. It’s a crying shame that a vet who’s fought for our country is left in the condition he is. It makes me so mad seeing this, yet I am glad I was at least able to give him some momentary happiness. I just wish I could have done more.

The man says goodbye and wheels himself off. Andrew looks at me astonished. “Logan, I can’t believe how generous you are… I’ve never given money to street people.”

I’m a little taken aback that Andrew refers to them as street people. “They’re just people like you and me,” I say to him. But I’m not angry at Andrew, because I realize that type of vernacular he’s using is typical, given the background he’s come from.

“It’s one of the reasons I went to law school,” I tell Andrew. “I want to help out as much as I can and do a lot of pro bono work for veterans as well as people who don’t have the money to hire attorneys.”

Andrew looks at me lovingly and moves closer to me and says, “And it’s exactly what I love about you Logan. I have a lot of respect for your beliefs.”

Then to my utter surprise, Andrew leans into me further and kisses me on the lips. He stays there and doesn’t pull away, unlike the first time he tried to kiss me. Suddenly, we’re interrupted.

FLASH! Click, click!

“What’s happening?” Andrew says.

But I know exactly what’s going on when I turn and see someone begin to run off. He was waiting for a moment like this to get his shot.

I begin to run after him but by now he’s so far ahead, I don’t know if I can catch up. I continue to run for a few more minutes, but realize he’s able to outrun me.

“Fuck,” I say out loud. I jog back to where Andrew is and he’s sitting on a bench with his head down. “What was that?” I ask in astonishment. “Was that guy following us or?”

Andrew shakes his head. “I think my wife probably hired him.”

I sit down next to him and place my hand on his leg. I can tell the whole mood is spoiled between us. Andrew looks sad and worried again and I hate seeing him like this.

“She’s trying to destroy us, Logan. She’s going to do everything in her power to wipe the both of us out. Get us fired.”

But Andrew is not completely correct. I’m already out at my job and have nothing to worry about. It’s he who’s going to receive the brunt of it.

“I’m sorry, Andrew,” I say to try and comfort him.

Andrew then squeezes my hand and leans his head against my shoulder. I don’t say it out loud, but think to myself, this is a good thing. Maybe this is exactly the last push Andrew needed.

For him and us.