By Any Other Name (15 page)

If he dug deep enough, he also knew he had feelings for Skye. Thom responded to Skye’s vulnerability. Skye was very different from Dru, who, despite being high maintenance sometimes, was independent and could do anything alone. Dru didn’t need Thom; sometimes Thom felt like it was more of a situation where Dru was granting him his presence and Thom was taking it because he loved Dru so much. Of course it wasn’t like that; it wasn’t about granting anyone something. Thom knew Dru loved him, but sometimes he still wondered if he could ever be enough, especially now that Skye was back.

There was a sudden rustling from the bushes, and Thom had just enough time to figure out it was a deer that was fleeing from them before he registered Kara’s squeal. The next thing he knew, the duo in front of them stopped, gripped each other, and giggled their asses off. It wasn’t the first time this had happened; deer wandered in the forest between the houses quite a bit. What Thom wasn’t prepared for was the sudden warmth against his side as Skye gripped his hand and pressed close.

“Shh… it’s okay, just deer. There are loads of them in the woods,” he said as he felt the younger man’s frantic heartbeat against his arm.

“You two coming?” Kara called back at them. She and Dru had already begun to walk again.

“Yeah, just go ahead,” Thom called to them, not taking his attention off Skye, who was trying to calm down.

Skye was shaking, hanging onto Thom’s arm like it was a lifeline, and without thinking, Thom wrapped his other arm around the man and pulled him close.

“It’s okay, you’re just fine, nothing’s happening to you on my watch,” he murmured to Skye, and just as he realized how close he had put himself, how bad it could potentially be, the strong yet fragile person in his arms relaxed and melted against him.

When the death grip was gone, he was able to pull Skye closer, and he listened to the silent sobs for a while. Then he lifted his hand to Skye’s back ever so gently and coaxed him to lay his head on his shoulder. The sobbing grew more audible, and he could feel the moisture on his shoulder and the gasping breaths on his neck.

He wasn’t sure how long they stood there in the darkness, the flashlight pointing at the road behind Skye, but soon enough another light appeared as Dru walked back to them. When he saw the scene in the beam of light, his steps seemed to stutter, and then he walked faster. Without asking any questions, Dru stepped closer to them and added himself to the hug. He stayed to the side so that he wasn’t crowding Skye but was still close to both of the others. Thom smiled a little at him, not caring if Dru could see it or not.

“Do you remember the first time I saw a deer out here?” Dru asked Thom quietly. Thom realized that Dru hadn’t noticed Skye getting scared and was trying to help out in the only way he could, by offering support and taking his mind off what had upset him in the first place.

“Yes, I do. I thought you’d be used to them, having lived in Rowan Falls all your life. I mean, I’m from the city, so me freaking out would have been expected,” Thom murmured, and Dru snorted a bit.

“You didn’t see how it looked at me. I was sure it was going to avenge the lives of the deer my ancestors had taken on their hunting trips.”

“It was a doe,” Thom said dryly.

There was a snort and a giggle from Skye, and Thom turned his head to look at him.

“Feel free to tell him he was being stupid.” Thom grinned.

“Flesh-eating does,” Dru murmured, and the playful pout could be heard in his voice.

“Who am I to say? I just freaked out over one,” Skye said sheepishly and then extracted himself from the group hug before wiping his face a little.

“Home now?” Thom asked, giving Skye the flashlight and then grabbing Dru’s hand with his left hand and Skye’s with his right. “I’ll protect you from killer deer, boys, don’t worry.”

They walked home hand in hand, all three of them. When they got back to the house, Thom made sure Dru drank some water and took a Tylenol to avoid the headache he always got from wine and oversaw Skye taking his medication as well.

They trudged up the stairs, and before they parted at the bedroom door, Dru leaned up to kiss Skye’s cheek quickly before slipping into the dark bedroom before the other men could react. It would have been comical, the way Skye held his fingers against the spot that had been kissed, if it had been someone else. Skye’s wide-eyed almost-shock made Thom smile as something warm bubbled in his chest.

“Night,” he said to Skye, reaching out to squeeze Skye’s fingers with his own, and then he went to the bedroom, closing the door.

Dru

The
music was soft in the background, and Dru leaned back in his seat, trying to look like there was nothing out of the ordinary in the situation. It was Monday, and they were sitting in the SUV in the parking lot of the mall. Skye was gathering courage beside him; Dru could hear the breathing his friend was forcing to calm and steady instead of the short gasps it had been as soon as they had turned into the parking lot half an hour ago.

He hadn’t said a thing because he wanted Skye to take responsibility over all this. Instead of trying to talk Skye through it, he was listening to music and occasionally humming along with the radio. Again, the song changed, and Dru hummed and smiled. Then he began to actually sing along. It was one of the songs he associated with Thom and lately with Skye too. It fit both of his men. When he had first thought of them as “his men,” he didn’t know. The night of the deer a couple of weeks ago had been a turning point of some sort. Their shopping trip had been postponed until now because Skye hadn’t been ready when they had first thought to go. It was touch and go this time too, but they at least made it to the mall instead of spending twenty minutes in the car on their driveway like that first time. Baby steps.

Dru hummed a song, something about taking someone’s hand. Despite the song being all mellow and nice, Skye snorted softly, and Dru turned to look at him, raising a brow.

“Fitting lyrics. Was just going to ask if you could… hold my hand in there,” Skye said, glancing at the main entrance of the mall and blushing.

“Sure, absolutely. If that’s what you want, that’s what we’ll do. Thom won’t mind,” Dru said and smiled.

“Okay… good.” Skye exhaled but didn’t make a move to get out of the car—nor did Dru ask.

Another two songs later, Skye unfastened his seatbelt and looked at Dru. Without saying a thing, Dru took the car keys and got out of the car. He rounded it to get to Skye’s side and then clicked the remote to lock the doors. Not very surprisingly, Skye jumped at the sound and then rolled his eyes at himself. Dru smiled and offered a hand to his friend.

They walked in the doors, and Dru began to chat to make Skye listen to him instead of panicking.

“So we’re getting you something to wear and then we’re going to go find some books for Thom as you guys agreed. And finally, if you’re still up for it, we’re going to go to the Chinese restaurant to eat. That okay?”

“Umm… yeah,” Skye mumbled, his eyes darting from person to person around the first level of the mall. It wasn’t one of those massive places, just one of the smaller ones spread around the bigger neighborhoods, but it still freaked Skye out.

“They don’t care about you, and you shouldn’t care about them either,” Dru said as he tugged the other man into the store where he thought he’d get the best jeans.

It was easy enough getting Skye to where he needed to be, and then Dru checked the size of his jeans and began to find him suitable ones. After finding a few pairs, Dru herded him into the dressing rooms.

He said, “Yes, you have to,” before Skye could object to trying the jeans on.

With a lot of grumbling, Skye did as he was told and began to relax as he changed into the jeans, pair after pair, and turned around in the little dressing room while Dru peeked from behind the curtain. Naturally he waited for Skye to say he was ready before invading his privacy; he didn’t want to make Skye feel more uncomfortable than he already did.

“Those are good. They’re a good color too. Comfy?” Dru asked, measuring yet another pair with his eyes.

“Very. Can we get these in black and charcoal too?” Skye asked, looking a bit uncertain about asking such a thing.

“Yeah, sure. And you’re taking those too.” He pointed at the pair of low-riding jeans that made Skye’s ass look perfect, not that he’d tell that to the man himself.

Skye frowned but took off the jeans he was wearing and pulled his old, ratty ones back on. They took the jeans they wanted with them and left the rest for the staff to handle. Dru found the other pairs in the right size, being much faster with figuring those things out, and they went to the cash register, where Dru paid for it all. They had agreed that whenever Skye was able to make his own money, he could worry about how much Dru and Thom had been spending on his clothing and other expenses. It was a simple fact that Skye needed things and had no money. It wasn’t easy to accept, but in some ways it was similar to their childhood; Dru had money, Skye didn’t. Dru was generous; Skye would have to deal. At least that was Dru’s opinion on the matter, and for now Skye agreed, even if hesitantly.

“You get to carry them.” Dru grinned while handing over the bag.

He took Skye’s hand, and they began to walk to the next shop, where they’d hopefully pick up most of the other stuff they’d need.

“We need to get you everything from underwear to some shirts and stuff. Let’s just pick some that you like and feel comfortable in and then get the same stuff in a few different colors. Much easier for now,” Dru said, and Skye nodded, swallowing a little bit.

“It will be okay. You can try on the shirts alone if you want.” Dru stroked the back of Skye’s hand with his thumb and felt him relax a little. That seemed to be how Skye was, tensing and relaxing occasionally for the smallest reasons.

They went to the other shop and spent half an hour figuring out what Skye needed before Dru decided that some mercy was in order.

“You were a good boy.” He patted Skye’s cheek when his friend was stepping out of the dressing room.

“I’m not your pet,” Skye said, but he was blushing and looked pleased.

“Honestly, this wasn’t so terrifying, was it? Still up for that lunch?”

“Sure, why not. While I’m on a roll.” Skye grinned, and they went to pay for the two bags of clothes.

As they walked towards the escalator to get to the bookstore and the restaurant on the second level, they held hands again. It felt nice, intimate without being too much, and Dru liked that he could have a more concrete connection to his friend instead of calming him down with words.

They stepped onto the escalator, chatting and holding hands. Dru’s eyes combed over the few people leaning on the railing of the second level.

“Shit,” Dru hissed, and Skye turned to look at him worriedly. “Whatever happens, not your fault,” Dru had time to say.