Used, Rare and Limited Editions II: Mix and Mingle

By Chris Owen

Dave was a carpenter on a mission. His boss had said, "Go forth, Mr. Allen, and build bookshelves for an old friend of mine," and Dave had gone forth to do his duty and to produce fine shelving.

Well, more or less. It hadn't happened exactly like that. It had been more like: Archie rolled over in bed, looked at Dave with one bleary eye, and said, "Go over to that used bookstore on Stillwater and talk to the owner. He's a friend of mine from way back, and he needs some shelving." Dave had nodded, because Archie signed his paychecks, and then there had been blowjobs, after which Dave had fallen back to sleep and been late to the bookstore.

A day or so later, there he was, on a mission. The mission, however, had very little to do with the building of shelves, and rather a lot to do with moving books and trying to find a way to talk to the guy helping him.

The shelves that Archie had mentioned were not, in fact, for Desmond Chase's store, but for his own personal collection of oversized and rare books. Des lived above his store -- or rather, his store was in most of the lower floor of his home -- so the confusion had been understandable, though immediately straightened out.

The shelves were no longer an issue; the entire rest of the situation remained a huge, pink elephant in the room. Given that both Dave and the man helping him -- Wyatt Cole, Des Chase's partner -- were large and tall former football players, that elephant was really squishing them in there.

"Are you going to the university this afternoon?" Dave asked, as he and Wyatt rolled a cart across the hallway. The cart was piled with books, all neatly lined up and in alphabetical order, ready to be transferred to a waiting table. It was very important to Desmond that his books remain in order, and therefore it was important to Wyatt. It would make them that much easier to re-shelve in a week or so.

"Yes." Wyatt quickly lifted several books at once and started arranging them in neat piles on the table. "My office hours start at one, and I have two classes today: both intro level, but that means they're full. Why?"

"Oh, no reason." Dave helped with the books as fast as he could without messing up the piles. They were on the clock, though it would only be Wyatt who paid a price if the books weren't moved within the sixty minutes Des had allowed him. "I was just wondering."

Wyatt grinned at him. "You were not. You were trying to come up with a way to start a conversation with me and that's what came out."

"Maybe," Dave mumbled. He looked at the books as he moved them, and not at Wyatt. "So. Here's the thing."

Wyatt said nothing, clearly waiting for Dave to keep talking. The trouble was, Dave hadn't ever been in precisely such an awkward social position before and he wasn't sure what to say. Maybe he shouldn't say anything at all.

"The thing?" Wyatt finally prompted as he took the last of the books off the cart.

Dave took a p class="stdp"eath. "You told me yesterday that you and Des have an open relationship, at least in certain cases."

"True." Wyatt moved the cart and Dave followed him back across the hall to the room they were emptying of books. "You and Archie are open as well, you said."

"We are." In the loosest sense, that was. Dave was starting to think that maybe they weren't so much "open" as "allowing space to meet certain needs." He couldn't remember the last time he'd been with someone not Archie, other than a vague idea it had to have been at least five or six months ago. He picked up an armful of books and started loading the cart again. "I guess I just want to make sure you and I are on the same page. About this weekend, I mean. About me and Des. Going to dinner. This weekend."

Wyatt laughed and loaded the cart faster than Dave. "I was there when he called to ask you out. He reached you at Archie's apartment, on Archie's phone. All four of us are on the same page, Dave. It's okay with me."

Dave felt himself blush. "Well, it's just that this isn't about dinner, right? I mean, you and Des are happy and in love. Me and Archie are whatever the hell we are. Everyone is happy, and there's no real reason for Des to ask me on an actual date if it's just about talking and having nice food. Archie says he's curious about me, sees me as a challenge."

"That much is true." Wyatt nodded and stopped loading books for a moment. "Of course, he also wants to have sex with you."