Six Years
On
By Chris Owen
"Wanna fuck?"
As pick up lines went, it wasn't original and it wasn't smooth
-- but it had been known to work a time or two. Alex could feel
the heat of a strong body behind him, pressing close, the words
spoken into his ear and not whispered. The club was noisy; a
whisper would have been lost and the guy trying to get in his
jeans seemed pretty determined.
He actually had a hand in Alex's jeans.
Of course, Alex could hardly blame the man for being so forward.
Alex had been walking along the walls of the club all night,
prowling and watching and looking at everything. He looked at
the lights, the pretty, pretty boys on the dance floor, the
lean men sitting at the bar. He'd been hunting hard, but hadn't
seen the right prey. He hadn't been subtle about it, either;
anyone with eyes knew that he was looking. Someone new would
think he was ripe for the pick up.
The new guy would learn different.
Grinning, Alex pivoted and grabbed the guy's wrist, pulling
the hand out of his pants. It wasn't easy to turn, pushed up
against the bar as he was, pinned by the long body, but he did
it. He looked into the bluest eyes he'd ever seen and the grin
vanished, his face feeling waxy as the smile slipped away and
his mouth formed a thin, compressed line.
Alex knew they were the bluest eyes he'd ever seen because he'd
seen them before.
"Think you're looking to get with the wrong fella,"
he said, pushing the hand away and watching Jamie's eyes widen.
"It is you!" Jamie looked utterly delighted, not exactly
the way Alex had thought he'd react. "Goddamn, sugar. How
long's it been?"
"Not quite long enough." Alex meant the sentiment
in a variety of ways, but he wasn't about to explain. Not in
a noisy club, and not to Jamie. Not if he could help it.
"God, it's got to be six years!" Jamie leaned closer,
one arm slipping around Alex's waist as he waved to the bartender.
"Let me buy you a drink, Lexi. Then we can get out of here,
catch up."
Alex stepped to the side and shook his head at Steve, the bartender.
"No thanks, Jamie. Not interested."
Jamie seemed to catch on about the same time Steve did, but
he didn't melt into the background the same way at all. Steve
kind of drifted away, pulling beer and sending shots down the
bar; Jamie narrowed his eyes and moved closer again.
"Lexi. You cain't still be riled up at me. Not after all
this time. Come on, lemme get you a drink an' --"
"I said no, Jamie." Alex gave up on moving away from
him and stood his ground, leaning forward just a little. It
was an aggressive stance, and he knew it. All around him people
started looking, and Steve moseyed on back.
"Trouble, Alex?"
Alex shook his head, not looking away from Jamie's eyes, which
were growing hard and flinty, the moment of shock buried quickly.
"No, Steve," Alex said. "Give me another soda,
please. And give Jamie here one on the house. Whatever he's
drinking."
"You got it."
Alex nodded sharply at Jamie and walked past him, aware of the
men who'd been watching them both. No one relaxed and they all
kept watching Jamie. They had Alex's back and he knew it. Jamie
knew it too, and Alex moved toward the stairs, knowing what
was coming.
Jamie could move fast, like a snake, and there he was, once
more pressed up close and breathing in Alex's ear. "Bar
full of your friends, Lexi? They gonna jump me when you go up
these here stairs? Or are you gonna call off the dogs?"
"They're friends, yes," Alex said, raising one hand
to wave off a wall of four men, coming at them nice and slow.
He could handle Jamie. "And no, they're not going to jump
you. Bad for business, that."
Jamie snorted and stepped back, giving him an inch. "Business."
Alex took the mile. "Yes, Jamie. Mine."
He reached to the shallow shelf that ran along every wall in
the place and picked up a coaster. "My bar, my business."
He held up the coaster, wet with beer, and showed off the red
circle with the blue and white lettering. AleX's.
"Why the fuck is the x so big?"
Alex grinned. "Why you think, son?"
Jamie flushed. "There another gay bar in this stupid town?"
"Nope. Sorry. So, seeing as how it's my joint, I have a
certain image to keep up. I don't get picked up. Ever."
Jamie rolled his eyes and went back to the bar, leaned over
and said something to Steve. Alex watched him from the bottom
step of the stairs and took a long look around the club. The
guys who had been ready to roust Jamie on his word had settled
back down, though they were mostly eyeing Jamie with curiosity
now, and the pretty kids on the dance floor hadn't noticed a
damn thing.
It was just the way Alex liked his place -- calm and loud and
full of people drinking. Well, aside from the two pretty girls
in the corner who hadn't had a drink all night, but they were
quiet and kissing each other and keeping to themselves, so he
figured that was all right. They weren't causing trouble; that
was all that mattered. The two guys almost fucking against the
wall, though, they had to stop that or take it out back. He
looked back at Steve, pointing.
Steve nodded and put a shot in front of Jamie as he waved one
of the bouncers over to take care of the indecent exposure.
Jamie tossed back the shot, slammed the glass down, flipped
Alex off with a stiff middle finger and walked out the door,
the very picture of anger.
He'd be back. Alex knew it. They always came back. |
