Cleats in Clay (2 page)

Odis pushed him back to lean upright against the cabinet. “I said, it may be my sister.”
Bobby saw Heimdalla appear in front of the glass windows. He watched the large dog bouncing and jumping in an excited way.
Gertie strolled up and marched right through the sliding glass door— or maybe she opened the door first, Bobby couldn’t remember. “There you are. You don’t ever answer your damn phone.”
Bobby gave her a friendly wave. “Heya.”
Gertie started to say something else, but her eyes drifted over to the clay horse on the worktable. “Odis.” She sucked in a breath. “That thing is hideous!”
“That’s why I backed out of the equestrian job. Unless you think maybe they’d want it?”
“Lord have mercy, no! That thing needs destroyed!”
“No!” Bobby yelled out, surprised by the sound of his own voice. “It’s Art. Can’t destroy Art.” He almost giggled from the way his voice gave
art
a capital letter.
Maybe he did giggle.
He glanced over and Odis was grinning at him. He could feel the heat of Odis’s handprint still on his arm.
Gertie looked over at Bobby. “Odis!” She clucked her tongue. “Honestly, I send you a client and you get him stoned out of his gourd.”
“Just a couple of tokes to help the man relax.”
“You sure it wasn’t a couple of bongs?”
Bobby giggled at the way the word “bong” seemed to keep echoing in his head.
Bong
.
Bong
. He looked over at Odis again. He was still talking to “his sister,” to Gertie, but their words were boring and he didn’t pay any attention. Bobby just looked at Odis’s face as he talked. The way his darkpink lips moved to form words. The way his Viking nose sat boldly on his face, strong and straight. The way the tiny lines around Odis’s eyes seemed to flicker and dance as he spoke.
Odis had a very handsome face.
Bobby gazed lower. Odis had a nice body. Odis had big feet.
“Mr. Lane!” Gertie’s voice said again.
Bobby looked over at Gertie. “Me?”
“Yes, you. I’m glad you found the place. I would offer to have you follow me back to the B and B and I’d give you a room, but you’re obviously in no condition to drive. So there’s a free room at the B and B when you sober up enough to make it back to town.”
“In town, the B and B in town.”
Gertie smiled tightly. “Right. Free room.”
“Free room, okey dokey.”
Bobby looked up again at the door, but Gertie had disappeared.
Odis put his hand on Bobby’s back. “Right, then, let’s get you back in the house.”
The hand on his back felt so large and warm. Bobby took careful steps as the hand gently pushed him forward. The floor didn’t seem to be exactly where it was supposed to be.

Heim came over and sat next to him, putting her chin on his knee. Bobby reached down and touched her head. Her fur felt so soft, like warm melted chocolate. Heimdalla looked up at him with kind eyes as he rubbed and patted her head.

Odis set a mug of coffee on the table in front of him.
Bobby sat up and took the mug. He carefully took a sip. It wasn’t coffee at all. It was sweet and chocolaty with just a tiny hint of bitter. The warm flavor danced on his tongue and in his throat. This was the best chocolate he had ever tasted.
Bobby looked up when he heard a chuckle. Odis was smiling at him. “You seem to be enjoying that mocha.”
Bobby smiled. “Yep. It’s good.”
Odis laughed. “You’re stoned,” he teased.
Bobby just grinned without replying and took another sip. He gazed up at Odis over his mug.
“So,” Odis said. “You keep lookin’ at me.”
“You keep lookin’ at me,” Bobby warmly echoed back.
“I asked you first.”
Words. Bobby didn’t want words. Words got in the way. After all the friendly touching in the studio, Bobby wanted action. “Just kiss me.”
Odis looked surprised. “And what makes ya think I’d be inclined to do that?”
“You keep lookin’ at me.”
“Really, now?” As he tilted his head, Odis grew a crooked grin. “But what if I’m mostly straight?”
“Mostly? That leaves a
bunch
a wiggle room.”
Odis chuckled. “And what exactly are you looking to wiggle?”
Bobby sat forward. The buzz was thinning out, but he still felt strangely comfortable. “What do you mean by ‘mostly straight’?”
“Like most artists, I don’t have a lot of hard and fast rules about what’s interesting or attractive.”
“Oh.” Bobby took another sip.
“Bein’ such a shrimp, though, it’s hard enough catching a woman’s eye, and men are even more difficult.”
“So you’ve never been with a man.”
“Never said that.” Odis smiled. “Yer puttin’ words in my mouth now, boy.”
“Sorry. So tell me about them.”
Odis sipped from his own mug a moment as if he was trying to decide if he should answer. “It was only one guy, actually. I thought it might be a mistake. He seemed to be reluctant about his desires. But I was curious and went along. We fooled around a little. As soon as he got off, though, which was way quick, he couldn’t get out the door fast enough.”
“Ouch, that sucks.”
“So what about you? What was your first time like?”
Bobby drained his mug and held it out to Odis. “If you can get me some more, I’ll tell you the whole long gruesome story.”
Odis took his empty mug. “Sure thing, stud,” he said with a wink.
Bobby watched Odis putter around in the kitchen area. He filled the mug with some brewed coffee, then spooned in some sort of powder to give it the chocolate flavoring. Bobby noticed how large his knuckles looked as he stirred the coffee. Odis seemed to move slowly, almost gingerly, when he reached up into the cabinet to put away the flavor container.
When Odis returned with the drink, Bobby looked him in the eye. “I’m just curious—how old are you?”
Odis sat in the chair next to him. He started to come back with something quippy, but seeing the honesty in Bobby’s eyes, he simply said, “Forty-seven.”
“I didn’t think you were
that
old. Is that why you act so elderly, then?”
“Humph. And what’s an elderly man
act
like?”
“Saying things like ‘humph’ and ‘boy’ and moving slow sometimes.”
Odis took a sip. “The language prob’ly comes from hangin’ around my grandpa too much. The other stuff you see is prob’ly the arth-a-ritis. I got stuck with it early, before I was even thirty-five.”
“Oh, sorry.” Bobby felt strangely embarrassed for bringing it up.
Odis smiled back at him. “I though you was gonna tell me a story?”
“Right. Well, I knew about myself in high school, about being gay and all, but I decided to keep up appearances and date girls. I was biding my time until college.
“So, I start college, and I’m just itching to get with a guy, but I don’t have any clue how to go about it. But I notice one of the assistant coaches for the baseball team, Mitch, keeps looking me over. He wasn’t too much older, maybe twenty-five, so when he asks me to go fishing up at his cabin one weekend, I jumped right on it.”
“Old man of twenty-five.” Odis chuckled.
“As you can guess, we didn’t actually get any fishing done. It was a great weekend. I thought I might be falling in love. How sappy is that?”
“You were young.”
“Then the next week at school, he was kind of distant. Which I halfway expected, since I’m sure that kind of fraternizing would have been more than just frowned upon. It wasn’t until I found out he’d invited another player up to the cabin that next weekend….”
“You were just another notch in his bedpost,” Odis offered.
“Yep, and that fuckin’ hurt.”
“So how did you meet Nathan?”
“Ouch, ya just go straight for the jugular, huh?”
“You don’t have to—”
“No, I will.” Bobby took a big sip. “Just give me a sec.”
“I didn’t mean to put you on the spot,” Odis said with a tone of concern.
“It’s fine.” Bobby took another sip. “We actually met that first summer after freshman year. I didn’t wanna go back and deal with my parents, so I hooked in with five other guys and we shared a crappy twobedroom apartment. I got a summer job with a landscaping company to pay my part of the rent. And I met Nathan that first day after work, when we took the equipment back to the warehouse for the night. He was on another crew.”
“What did you say to him?”
“Me? I didn’t say a word to him. I noticed him right away, of course—he was so hunkalicious I couldn’t
not
notice. Nathan recognized
me
, though, and came over. Turns out he was a big baseball nut and had seen me playing for the college team.”
“You went out on a date?”
“Oh no, we just hung out. I’m sure he was throwing out signals left and right, but I was so green I wouldn’t have noticed. It wasn’t until Fourth of July….”
Odis waited, then urged him on. “What happened then?”
“We were sitting out in the dark, watching the fireworks over campus, and Nathan turned to me and said, ‘Am I just wasting my time, or are you ever gonna kiss me?’”
Odis chuckled. “So I’m guessing you did.”
“Oh yeah, we had our own personal firework show that night.”
“I’ll bet you did,” Odis teased with a wide grin.
“So what about you? How long have you been living alone here?”
Odis glanced around the space. “That obvious, huh? Well, Tina moved out about three years ago. I think she was a closet gold digger waiting for me to strike it rich in the art community. Guess she got tired of waiting. Last I heard she’s in Dallas with some famous painter.”
“And you haven’t had anybody since?”
“Nope. Once you get past forty, it’s hard enough to meet people if you’re six foot tall and ruggedly handsome. Somebody like me, though, it’s pretty much a write-off.”
“You shouldn’t put yourself down like that. You’re still handsome, even if ya are
old
,” Bobby said with a wink.
“Are you flirtin’ with me again?”
“Maybe….”
“Humph.” Odis sat up and put his mug on the table. “I don’t know what I can promise. Never really went down that road before.”
“I’m not asking for promises. I’m not exactly in the shape to be making any myself.”
Odis leaned forward in his chair, hesitating as he got close to Bobby. “Then what do we do?”
Bobby chuckled. “It’s not like there’s some queer manual we have to follow. Just do whatever you want to. I’ll let you know if I don’t like it.”
“You sure about that? I’m an artist, don’t forget. I might have some strange notions.”
“I’ll try to tolerate it,” Bobby teased.
Odis reached out his hand as Bobby sat up and put his mug on the table.
Odis rubbed Bobby’s head and traced along the top of Bobby’s ear with his thumb.
Bobby sighed and moved his head closer to Odis’s open palm. It seemed like it had been forever since someone had touched him like that.
Odis hooked his fingers into Bobby’s chestnut locks and gently pulled him closer to his face. He took in the fragrance of Bobby’s hair. The soft scent of lemongrass and faint masculine musk excited his nose.
Bobby looked up and raised his finger to trace along Odis’s stubbly jaw.
Odis peered into his eyes, appreciating every detail of the smoky cigar-brown color. Then Odis turned his attention to Bobby’s raised arm. He put his hand out and grasped Bobby’s bicep, squeezing Bobby’s solid muscles with his fingers. “Take your jacket off?” he asked.
With his heart now racing and feeling the stir in his groin, Bobby removed the jean jacket and dropped it on the floor, revealing the plain green T-shirt underneath.
Odis moved his mouth to the crook of Bobby’s elbow to explore it with his lips and tongue. He dragged his mouth farther up the arm, gently suckling at the solid bicep. He placed his nose near the armpit, hesitated briefly, then brought his mouth to the jaw below Bobby’s ear and licked and suckled at the stubbly hairs.
“Dear Lord,” Bobby moaned.
Odis traced his tongue along Bobby’s jaw, hesitating when he got to the chin and near Bobby’s mouth. Then he worked his way down to the center of Bobby’s chest and traced the collarbone with his tongue back toward Bobby’s armpit. Odis hesitated again, then raised his mouth to kiss and lick at Bobby’s Adam’s apple.
Bobby moaned again, enjoying this unusual attention. Odis seemed to be targeting the things that made him male. Bobby had to reach down and adjust himself—the denim of his jeans had quickly turned into a tight prison for his dick.
Odis rose and gazed into his face.
Bobby gazed back. “You can go to the armpit, it won’t gross me out.”
Odis chuckled. “I didn’t think it would, but it stinks of deodorant.”
Bobby laughed. “Never had anybody tell me deodorant stinks before.”
“It does when I want to smell
you
.” Odis leaned in and sealed his lips around Bobby’s mouth before he could reply. The kiss was light and curious.
Bobby raised his hands and put them on Odis’s back. He was going to pull him in closer, but Odis broke the kiss and stood up. “Sorry, all that coffee. I’ll be right back.”
Bobby stood and watched him go into the bathroom and close the door. He looked over at the bed. He thought about going over there, but Odis was being hesitant and he didn’t want to appear presumptuous. With another thought, Bobby pulled off his T-shirt and scrubbed the jersey material inside his armpits, hoping to remove some of the offensive deodorant. He dropped the T-shirt on top of his jacket when he heard the door open again.
Odis returned from the bathroom. “Sorry,” he said. “I can’t….” His eyes zeroed in on the tattoo above Bobby’s left nipple.
“No promises, remember? It’s cool.”
Odis approached Bobby, holding his hand out toward the hummingbird tattoo. He hovered his hand above the skin art briefly before pulling it away. “No, I mean, I’m a shit, I have to apologize.”
“For what?”
“Earlier, your name really didn’t ring any bells.” Odis sat at the table and grabbed his mug. “After you started your story about the Series, though, I
did
remember. And I didn’t stop you. I made you tell me the whole thing.”
Bobby sat down. “Hey, it’s not like you forced me or anything.” He smiled when he saw Odis’s gaze. The man couldn’t keep his eyes off the hummingbird. “It’s okay. I’d never had to say it out loud like that before. It was kind of… liberating.”
“Cathartic?”
“Show-off. Pullin’ out those five-dollar words on me,” Bobby teased.
“You’re not a brick. Don’t even try to pull that off.”
“A brick?”
“Most men are like bricks, solid and hard and
dense
. You’re not a brick, Bobby Lane.”
“Oh.” Bobby looked in his empty mug. “Seeing’s how I’m not a brick, then, maybe we could get some food?”
“
Feed
you? Lord, you’re just all
kinds
of trouble, boy,” Odis teased as he went to the kitchen. He browsed around in the fridge. “I’m not exactly set up for hosting. How about a bologna sandwich?”
“Bologna? What are you, twelve?”
“Don’t make fun of the fixins or I’ll stick you with peanut butter and jelly.”
“That’s a thought.” Bobby smiled. “I haven’t had peanut butter and jelly in a long time.”
“All right, then, classic grape or strawberry banana?”
Bobby stood with his empty mug. He also grabbed Odis’s mug from the table and went into the kitchen. “Strawberry banana? I don’t think I’ve ever seen that flavor in the store.”
“Prob’ly not. It’s one Gertie makes for the B and B.”
Bobby filled the two mugs with coffee and got the flavoring powder from the cabinet. “Let’s go with
that
one, then.” He stirred in the flavor and took the mugs back to the table.
“All right,” Odis agreed, getting out the bread.
“Be right back,” Bobby said, excusing himself.
Bobby entered the bathroom. It was a small, compact space much like he expected, except for the huge shower. It took up one whole curving wall, a space large enough to house four people comfortably, maybe eight people if they were really friendly. At least a dozen chrome heads protruded from various locations of the polished lava-rock interior.
He chuckled to himself as he peed. It didn’t look like a shower—it looked like a religious experience.
Bobby had to fight the urge to just strip off his jeans and climb in. Then he noticed the yellow washcloth hanging on the rod near the shower door. The washcloth was still damp, so he used it to scrub his armpits, then along the treasure trail of hair where he liked to spray his cologne. Bobby always tried to be optimistic.
He returned to the lounge area and saw the sandwich, neatly cut into two rectangular halves, waiting in front of his chair. Odis was sitting at the table with his own plate. Bobby looked down as he sat. “Toasted?”
“Well, of course. The peanut butter rips up the bread if you don’t toast it first.”
“You artists, just can’t do anything normal.” Bobby chuckled before taking a bite. The bread was very lightly seared, just enough to give a slight crunch but leaving the bread soft in the middle. Bobby decided he liked the sandwich that way.
They ate quietly, each taking momentary glances at the other.
Odis gazed at Bobby’s bare chest. He still had a muscular look, but the muscles appeared slightly softer, as if Bobby hadn’t been faithful with his workouts of late. Odis thought it was a nice look, more natural somehow. His eyes kept drifting back to the deep blue ink. “You do realize what a big fat tease you are.” He smirked. “Sitting there all shirtless and all.”
“Oh, is that a complaint? ’Cause I can put the shirt back on.”
“No, merely an observation.”
“You seem to like my tattoo,” Bobby said with a grin. “Just making my own observation.”
“I do. I’m surprised sometimes with the high degree of art some tattooists are capable of.”
“I’d think they would