Coming Home- Rock Bay 1 (20 page)

T
ALLY
was in the grocery store picking up beer and stuff to make nachos for the movie night they were having with Amy later. It was Saturday, and he’d talked Lex into letting them host for a change. It felt oddly domestic to be walking through the grocery store, list in hand, getting supplies to host his first little dinner with the man he lived with—and Tally had to admit that he and Lex were living together. He hadn’t slept at his grandmother’s house since the night that they made all those hundreds of cupcakes, and most of his meager belongings had migrated into Lex’s closet and dresser. Tally still couldn’t believe it was real. He’d never even come close to having a boyfriend since high school.

He’d felt guilty about ditching his grandmother at first, but she seemed to be perfectly happy with visits and even happier that he’d found someone as nice as Lex. Even the dinner, which he’d been halfway dreading, had been fine. She told him basically the same thing Lex had said before, that people loved him and it didn’t matter what her horse’s ass of a daughter thought. Okay, maybe Lex hadn’t called his mom a horse’s ass, but the idea was there. And he felt better about that. Mostly. It still nagged at him when he ran across someone who didn’t know him from the coffee shop and he got that old “I hate you Tallis Carrington” look. At those times, he found himself thinking that maybe his mother was right, and it was a bad idea for him to be back where his family’s name was a cussword. And then he thought of Lex, and his heart practically burst from the sheer volume of happiness it was trying to contain.

Tally picked through the tomatoes, trying to find ones that were ripe already. He was excited to see Amy that night, and weirdly enough, he was worried even more about what she thought of him than he had been before. He didn’t know what Lex had told her—about their sex life, about his mother, about what they’d said to each other the week before….

He tried to talk himself out of being paranoid, but it seemed like he was constantly waiting for people to hate him, waiting for the day that he’d wake up and Lex would look at him and say “what the hell was I thinking?” God, he hoped it never happened. The thought of not having Lex was like an arrow to the gut.

Tally nearly dropped the onion he’d been about to bag. He looked over and blinked.
No way.
“Drew?”
Drew McAuliffe looked
amazing
. He’d dropped about twenty pounds of beefy muscle that he’d carried in high school, and like Tally himself, he’d become lean but still healthy looking. The guy could’ve walked right off the pages of J. Crew. The golden-boy-gone-to-seed look that Brock seemed to have going on must have passed right over Drew. Didn’t mean Tally was attracted to him. More like proud.
“I was hoping I’d run into you soon. My dad said you paid him a visit.”
Tally chuckled softly. “Yeah, I did. You know, I have to say it. You look really good.”
“You do too. Kinda lost that beefcake look.”
Tally sputtered and nearly laughed outright. He’d forgotten how Drew didn’t hold much back.
“That’s exactly what I was thinking about you,” he said with a smile.
“What
are
you doing back in town? The rumors circulated back when you first got here, but I know most of that shit is never true.”
“What were the rumors?”
Drew laughed and added a head of lettuce to his basket. “Let’s see, cancer, scorned lover, coming home to take care of your dying grandmother, who looks healthy as a horse to me.”
“Would you believe plain ol’ broke?”
“That’s not very soapy of you.”
“Boring but true. I lost my job in Seattle and ran out of cash. My grandma said I could stay with her until I got my feet under me again.”
“How come you’re still around?”
Tally shrugged. “Things are better here than I remembered, sure as hell better than I had them in Seattle.” He didn’t know why the first thing out of his mouth wasn’t “I fell in love.” Maybe he wasn’t sure of his old friend yet. Maybe he wasn’t sure of himself.
“Hey, do you want to drop that stuff off at home and go get coffee or something? It would be great to talk, and I hear that place down on Old Main has good desserts.”
“You mean Lex Barry’s shop?”
Drew blushed. “Yeah.”
“How come you don’t go there, then?”
“How did you know that I don’t?”
Tally elbowed him. “Because I work there. It’s my day off, but that’s okay, we can go anyway. Lex is probably bored. He’s been in his office all day working on the computer.”
“Oh, you want to meet in a half an hour or so? Give you time to get home and put your food in the fridge.”
Tally opened his mouth up to say that the coffee shop
was
home but instead said, “Sure. I’ll see you there.”

T
RAVIS
was bustling around behind the counter, cleaning, when Tally came down from putting his groceries away. A pretty girl with gorgeous skin the color of rich French roast was sitting at the counter, school books spread out.

Tally.”
“Hi, Tally, you’re Lex’s boyfriend, right?”
“Yeah.”
Why did that feel weird to say out loud? It shouldn’t have

Tally chuckled. “Wish I could help you there. I never even took that class.”
“Cheri’s going to be pre med.” Travis’s voice was full of pride.
“That’s great.” Tally smiled. “I’m going to go say hi to Lex really quick. If someone comes in looking for me, tell him I’ll be out in a minute.”
Travis raised his eyebrows, and Tally rolled his eyes at their young employee. “He’s an old friend from high school. Give me a break.”
Travis stuck out his tongue. Tally laughed and wondered when he’d managed to acquire a little brother. It was kind of nice, actually. He was still smiling when he walked into Lex’s office to find him buried in a pile of papers and tapping frantically at his keyboard. He was wearing those wire-rimmed glasses that drove Tally insane. He had fantasies about those glasses sometimes: the glasses, Lex, a button-up shirt halfway undone and falling off his shoulders, head thrown back in ecstasy while he rode Tally in that rickety old computer chair. Tally shuddered. That was going to have to happen. Soon.
“Hey, babe.”
Lex jumped, then he looked up and smiled. “Hey, you scared me.”
He got up and stretched. His shirt came up to expose a few inches of golden skin and just the hint of a treasure trail.
Mmmmm.
Tally reached out and rubbed Lex’s abdomen. He wondered if he would ever be able to keep his hands off. Lex draped his arms over Tally’s shoulders and gave him a leisurely kiss.
“Did you get all the stuff for tonight?”
“Yep. Even avocados for homemade guacamole.” Tally kissed him and massaged his lower back.
Lex groaned and leaned into Tally’s touch. “That feels amazing. I wish it was dinner already. I’m starved.”
“Want me to get you something from out front?”
“Nah.” Lex kissed Tally’s neck and patted him on the hip. “I’ll wait.”
“Hey, Tally, your friend is here.” Travis’s voice drifted through the hallway.
“Friend?”
“Yeah, Drew MacAuliffe. I ran into him at the grocery store.” Lex made a face. “Drew’s really cool, actually. He’s not like Brock or the rest of them.”
“Hmm.” Tally could tell Lex didn’t believe him. “I’m glad those guys don’t want to be infected by my homo juice, or I’d have to look at them every day. They already give me enough trouble when I run into them in town.”
Tally snorted. “I like your homo juice.” He leaned over and nuzzled Lex’s neck. “And I’ll deal with Brock if you want me to.”
Lex chuckled. “What did I do before I had you in town to fight my battles for me?”
“Suffered nobly?”
“Something like that. Hey, I’m going to get back to these so I can have fun tonight instead of worrying about all this crap that needs to be done.”
“See you in a little bit?”
“Yeah, when I drag myself out from under this pile of papers.”
Tally leaned down for one more kiss before turning to go back out to the shop.
Drew was waiting with a muffin and a huge latte. “This is awesome. Travis makes really good coffee.”
Tally smiled at him. It was hard not to. The guy had always been so friendly. “You should come in more often.”
Drew rolled his eyes. “Brock would never let me live it down. He calls the coffee here fairy juice.”
“He must be hanging out with your father.”
“No, actually, for as much as they have in common they don’t like each other.”
“Why do you care what Brock thinks, anyway?”
Drew chuckled disbelievingly. “Oh, man. You’ve been in the big city for too long. He runs this town.”
“Brock?” From what Tally remembered, he’d been a bit of a moron, and his encounter with him a few weeks back hadn’t done anything to refute that. The guy was a douche. A douche who hit on high school girls. Tally shuddered.
“Yeah, his dad basically owns the country club. They’re the money in town ever since, well….”
“Ever since my dad died. It’s okay. I’ve had a long time to get used to it.”
“I’ve always meant to say sorry about that, and about the way I acted, or didn’t act is more like it. I should’ve been a better friend back then. I was a follower.”
“It’s okay. Like I said, it was a long time ago.”
Lex came wandering out of his office and went rooting around in the pastry display until he came up with a muffin.
“Hey, I thought you were waiting for dinner?”
Lex gave Tally a little sideways smile. “I thought I could, but my stomach started growling.” He waved at Drew, hesitant, but it looked like he was prepared to be friendly.
“Lex, you remember Drew, right?”
“Yeah. Hey.”
“Hi, Lex.”
“You don’t have your usual entourage with you.”
Drew actually smiled at that. “They’re not
my
entourage.”
“Yeah, technically they’re mine,” Tally added with a grin.
Lex shook his head, but he was still smiling. Tally hoped he could separate Drew from the rest of them. He really was different. “Hey, I’ve gotta get back to those accounts before they start having babies.”
“Let me know if you ever need help. I’m a CPA.” Drew smiled at Lex, also nothing but friendship in his face. Tally felt hope well in his stomach. Maybe everything would be easier than he thought.
Lex shrugged and took a big bite out of his blueberry muffin. “I wish I could afford you,” he mumbled around the food in his mouth.
“Well, hey, I’ve been friends with Tally for years, and he works here, right? I’ll just call it a friendly favor.”
Lex looked surprised. “That’s really nice of you.”
“It’s no problem.” Drew beamed.
And that’s when Tally figured out what was going on.
I knew it!
Tally had always thought there was something… recognizable about Drew back in high school, and he clearly had the hots for Lex, not that it was
ever
going to happen, but still. Tally waited until Lex went back into his office before he turned to face Drew.
“You so want to get in his pants!”
It was a good thing they were the only people in the shop. Drew’s face turned red. The poor guy was mortified. Tally hadn’t really meant to blurt it out like that, but he felt a little vindicated that he’d been right all those years.
“I don’t—it’s not….” He looked like he didn’t know what to say.
“D, just spit it out.”
“Fuck. Yes, okay? I think Lex is hot.”
“And you’re gay?”
“No! I mean, no, I’m not.” Tally simply looked at him. “I’m bi, but it’s not something I advertise. You’re not going to tell Brock, are you?”
“First of all, what makes you think I talk to Brock, and second of all, no. I don’t tell other people’s business.”
Drew breathed more easily. “So, is Lex single, do you know?” It seemed like it was hard for him to spit it out.
“You just said no one knew you were bi.”
“I know, but….”
“Lex isn’t really into closets.” Tally deliberately gave Drew a slow satisfied smile. “Besides, he’s not single.”
Tally saw the comprehension dawn on Drew’s face. “You? Tallis Carrington?”
“Yep.”
“Since when?”
“A month or so.”
Drew looked a bit flabbergasted. “No, I mean since when are you gay at all?”
“Always.”
Drew’s jaw dropped, and Tally burst out laughing. “Wait, so you knew this in high school?”
Tally nodded. “I had a boyfriend in high school.”
“No way! Who? Please tell me it wasn’t one of the guys on the team.”
Tally groaned at the thought of sleeping with one of his old football teammates, not that some of them weren’t kinda hot, but that wasn’t an image he wanted in his head.
“You didn’t know him. Not very soapy of me again, but he lived out of town. In Astoria.”
Drew grinned. “Hey, secret gay is soapy enough for me—doesn’t have to be a hidden football romance.”
“There could’ve been even more to the story. I was secretly gay, you were secretly bi….” Tally wiggled his eyebrows and smiled.
“I’m still secretly bi.”
“I know, which I don’t get.”
“You haven’t lived here every day of your life, haven’t tried to do business.”
“Lex does.”
“Yeah, but isn’t he hassled all the time? Like from my father?”
“Not really. I mean your dad didn’t want to give him that building permit, but he isn’t actually bothered by anyone.”
“How ’bout the fact that none of the parents around here wanted their kids to work for him?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I know Lex was looking for someone for a long time before you came, and I’d heard some whispers about how none of the kids’ parents wanted them working for him.”
Tally was outraged. “Lex would never touch a kid!”
“People here are still really small town, Tally. Hence my closed mouth. I guess if I was completely gay then I’d either move away or come out. Since I’m still attracted to women, I’ve always taken the easy road.”
“But are you happy?” Drew’s face turned pink.
Shit.
“Sorry, dude. Sometimes I think I should’ve become a reporter.”
“It’s okay. Happy’s a strong word. I’m fine with the way things are. I’d have to fall for a guy pretty hard for it to be worth it. I doubt that’s going to happen.”
Tally shrugged. “You never know. I didn’t think I would ever really fall for anyone.”
Drew smiled. “So it’s pretty serious between you two?”
“Yeah.” Tally couldn’t help his smile. He had a sudden thought. “Hey, listen. I don’t know if it’s weird, but Lex and I were going to watch movies with his friend Amy tonight. You want to come?”
Drew looked unsure. “Um, is she single?”
Tally couldn’t help but to laugh. “It’s not a hookup. She’s not into guys at all.”
Drew chuckled. Tally could tell he was relieved. “So is this the Rock Bay gay squad or something?”
“Something like that. You should come, though.”
Drew shrugged. “Why not? Where is it?”
“Right upstairs. Lex’s apartment is over the shop. I was going to head up there and get snacks started pretty soon, actually. You could always just stay here and hang out with me.”
“Can you make sure it’s okay with Lex first? I don’t want to intrude.”
“Yeah, I’ll go make sure, but he’ll be fine with it.”