Island Heat (14 page)

“Yeah, it was,” Eli agreed. “So you told Troy?”

Kevin nodded, his eyes falling to Eli's lips. “I've got nothing to hide anymore,” he murmured back. “I mean, I know you might not necessarily... want to tell the world until things are sorted for you...”

“I don't care about that,” Eli whispered. He stepped forward, putting his hand on Kevin's waist to impulsively lean in and press a short kiss to Kevin's lips. He kept it relatively quick and chaste in case anyone were looking around.

Kevin glowed when Eli pulled back. “Okay,” he murmured back. The look on his face... Eli wanted to protect him. He had to sort things out with Tom
now
, before Kevin was in danger of being harassed by Tom or even Tom's fans, or his manager... or whoever else felt like they should get involved.

He had to fix things up for him.

“I'd better go,” Eli murmured, spotting Troy striding to the display cabinet behind Kevin to choose a dessert while taking a drinks order from someone else at the bar. “Let you get back to it.”

“Thanks,” Kevin murmured. “I'm going to lunch at Seth's house – he owns Chrome – tomorrow, but...”

“Oh,” Eli frowned, disappointed just at the thought of not seeing Kevin again right away. “Tomorrow night? Saturday night's probably busy, too, but towards the end of the night like last time?”

“Okay, I'll plan for that,” Kevin agreed, then leaned in for another quick, bold kiss before pulling away to head back to the counter. “See you.”

“Bye,” Eli smiled as he stepped out of the dessert bar. He felt more optimistic again, and he had a day to try to sort out what was going on with Tom. Kevin was showing his commitment already by coming out to Troy and telling him about them, and he had to step up and cut his past ties completely to be fair to this sweet young man.

He was going to get someone to tell him what Tom was doing, or else he'd find a goddamn boat and row out to the yacht himself.

Ten minutes before they closed, a man walked straight into the dessert bar and leaned on the counter by Troy. Kevin knew it had to be Dean. He was good-looking and had a certain charm about him; he came off from looks alone like a playboy, rather than Eli's sweetly concerned and gently playful attitude. He looked like Troy's type.

“Hi, welcome,” Kevin greeted. “Are you Dean?”

“I am. You're the guy who wanted to talk to me?” Dean even sounded smoothly flirtatious. Definitely Troy's type.

Kevin smiled. “Yeah, if I could. Um, it's better saved for after we close up, though...”

“I'll get you a drink in the meantime,” Troy winked and slid a menu across the counter towards Dean.

Dean smirked, not even glancing at the menu. “Make me that blue one.”

“Of course,” Troy laughed as he started to make the drink that was part of the Nude Beach combo. Kevin went to the display cabinet to get the matching dessert. If he was going to introduce himself to Eli's best friend, he might as well spoil him a little first.

Troy turned down Dean's money, winking as he pushed the bill back over the counter. “It's on me.”

“On you?” Dean retorted.

Kevin rolled his eyes.
Oh my god, keep it to the bedroom,
he thought but grinned to himself. He was glad that Troy was having a good time here... even if it was every night. He left Troy to entertain Dean as he went to check on their last table and take their payment. Then, he started shutting the place down for the night.

When the bar was empty aside from the three of them, he locked the door and breathed out a little sigh. “All right.”

“Long night?” Dean asked, turning around on his bar stool to watch him head back to the counter.

Kevin pulled up the stool next to him and leaned on the counter while Troy leaned in from the other side. He was going to stay and listen in. “Yeah, it kind of was. Good, though. Busy is good for us. Almost
too
busy but we'll get staff soon at this rate.”

“Good job,” Dean congratulated them. He couldn't help his curiosity, though. “So, why did you want to talk to me? Have we met?” He glanced Kevin's face over carefully as if studying it for familiar signs of someone he'd flirted with in the past week.

“Er... no.” Kevin drew a breath. He'd planned out how to say this, but he couldn't think of a better way. “Tom is planning to buy the island for whoever he's dating.”

Troy's eyes crinkled slightly as he stared at Kevin, then at Dean. He was clearly trying to figure out what this meant.

The casual flirtatious attitude was gone now. Dean looked paler, and he sat up straighter, turning to face Kevin directly. “Are you sure? How did you find that out?”

“He came in with Bill,” Kevin answered. “They were talking about it.”

Troy swallowed. Kevin could see that he was thinking about their reputation if they got one for not being a confidential place to have a business meeting.
Hold on, Troy. I'm getting there.

“Holy shit.” Then, the other question hit Dean. “Why talk to me about it? I mean, unless...” Dean's eyebrows raised. “Oh.”

“What?” Troy asked, grimacing with frustration.

“Are you...?” Dean hesitated, fidgeting with his phone in his pocket.

Kevin cleared his throat. “Maybe, depending on what you're asking,” he laughed quietly. He felt like Troy was trying to ask if he was seeing Eli, and the answer was a definite yes by this point.

“You went to me instead of Eli because you don't want him to get caught up in it?”

“Exactly.”

“Eli? Is that who you're--” Troy began. At Kevin's pointed look, he broke off. “Ah.”

“Wow,” Dean murmured, rocking back on his stool a little. He looked like someone had just slapped him in the stomach.

Kevin winced. He hadn't wanted to out Eli to his best friend, but telling him what Tom was up to seemed more important. If Tom was being spiteful for some reason and trying to buy the island to impress whoever he was dating now, Dean needed to know so he could try to stop it for Eli's sake.

“I'll take care of it,” Dean promised, rising to his feet and pushing his empty cocktail glass and plate back. “Just, er...” He seemed to be trying to think of how to carefully phrase something.

Kevin waited, raising his thumb to his lip to push it around and soothe his anxious nerves.

“Be careful with Eli,” Dean settled on. “He was hurt badly just three weeks ago, and... I'm afraid that he's in a rebound phase. You could both easily get hurt this time.”

Kevin resisted the urge to get defensive.
You don't know how sweet he is, then. He cares about me. It's not just a rebound fuck.
“I will be,” he promised.

“Thank you,” Dean said sincerely, then nodded. “And thank you for telling me about Tom.” He seemed sadder than when he'd come in. Kevin hoped it wasn't from hearing about his best friend's secret love interest or his best friend's ex being a prick, but he felt like it was at least one of those two things. He glanced at Troy. “See you around.”

“See ya,” Troy answered as Kevin walked to the door to unlock it for Dean.

On the way past, Dean patted Kevin's shoulder lightly. “It was good to meet you.” He reached out to shake his hand.

“You, too.” Kevin squeezed and shook Dean's hand, then let him head out the door before closing and locking it again.

Troy was already on his phone, staring up from it at Kevin. “You got involved with Tom Jones's ex? Dude. Most people start with, like, a random guy at a bar...”

“I didn't – I didn't know it was him until later,” Kevin defended, but he couldn't help but laugh. “I know.”

“Wow,” Troy grinned. “Well, according to this article, he's worth around a billion at any given time--”

“Don't tell me,” Kevin interrupted hastily, his heart racing. The idea of anyone having that much money was overwhelming, and he wasn't sure he could look Eli in the face if he thought too much about it. “I want to get to know him personally.”

Troy looked thoughtful as he pocketed his phone. “All right. Let's get this place shut down for the night.” His eyes lingered on Kevin for a few moments more, and Kevin wondered what he really thought of it.

***

“Come on in! We've got pizza for lunch.” Seth let Troy and Kevin into his apartment. “All ready for the madness of the first
real
weekend?”

“This weekend will be busier than last weekend?” Kevin exclaimed to the fellow club owner. It was a dismaying, yet exciting thought; he'd thought last weekend had tested his limits, but if this weekend was any busier... well, he was barely going to have a moment to breathe. It was now Saturday afternoon and he'd slept hard enough after Friday night.

Seth laughed, but it was good-natured. “Oh, yes. Everyone who was late arriving is here by now.”

“Oh, man.” Troy headed over to the kitchen table and Kevin followed with Seth. There were already four other guys there, two of them talking amongst themselves while the other two lounged around near the pizza boxes and waved when they came in.

“Hey, guys, this is Troy and Kevin from Sweet Nothing,” Seth introduced them. “This is Carson – he runs the clothing shop right across from you – and that's James from La Sol. Over there is Eric from the Chinese delivery place, Gold Star. And Kurt's from Elephant, the pub.”

Kevin did his best to memorize the list of names and nodded at everyone. He could vaguely remember Zander and Kurt from the party on the first night, but he hadn't properly talked with anyone that night. “Hi, everyone.”

“The new superstars,” Kurt grinned. He had a rough, cute English accent of some kind and a friendly demeanor.

Troy laughed. “Thanks,” he answered as they both grabbed pizza slices. “We're trying hard.” They'd met with Rube that morning to check in and share their numbers and he'd seemed pleased before offering more advice on how to increase customer visit time for increased revenue. They'd both figured he told everyone they were doing well. He was always upbeat.

“Rube's been talking about you,” Eric told them. “We're having a Main Street meeting next week to talk about who's doing the best, and so far, you're top of the charts in the new biz category.”

Kevin looked at Seth, who was grinning. “Really?”

“According to the first week's profits.”

“You're getting that first-year sizzle,” James said around his slice of pizza as he sprawled back in a chair by the table.

“What?” Kevin frowned.

“First-year sizzle. It's the hot factor – the new guys on the block appeal. Those of us who come back, well... it's rare you do as well in the second year.”

Seth was neither nodding nor shaking his head, just casually glancing off at Kurt and Eric instead.

Kevin's bullshit meter went off, but he nodded anyway. “That's good to know, thanks.”

“I mean, I'm the exception, obviously--”

Kevin caught Troy's quick glance at him. Troy thought this guy was full of it.

“--but most people aren't so lucky.”

“He has food trucks in NYC,” Carson added, seeming sincerely in awe as he watched James. “And investments in a few other places.”

“I actually invested in a great bakery in Brooklyn. Started from the ground up, and they're doing great business now. One of the best investments I ever made,” James nodded while Carson nodded along. Kevin focused on devouring his second slice of pizza.

Hang on... gourmet bakery in Brooklyn?
“A bakery? Cool,” Kevin smiled. He had his suspicions, but he had yet to confirm them.

“They do custom cakes. They did a stand-up one of the Statue of Liberty and the torch actually lit up.”

Kevin knew the one. The owner of the shop that had closed on him had owned it, too, and it had gone under at the same time. He resisted the urge to say so and instead nodded. “I'm glad it's doing well.”

“Oh, raking in the money.”

How come nobody else is calling him out? Unless they don't know. I mean, the bakery industry isn't quite the clothing boutique industry or the pub industry, I guess...
Eli nodded and grabbed another slice of pizza, pretending to go admire the view from the apartment window.

Seth quietly said from nearby, “Sorry about him.”

Kevin glanced over at Seth. He could hear Troy still talking to James in the background. “It's fine, I just wanted to see your view,” he lied. “We're on the other side of the building, so...”

“Yeah, we see the water if you squint through those trees...” Seth chuckled. “It's sweet.”

“Nice bachelor pad.”

Seth eyed him. “You're in a two-bedroom together? That's gotta get in the way. Unless, you know, you get hit on by some hot billionaire here...” He was speaking carefully, his voice light but his gaze meaningful.

Kevin's heart lurched.
Has he told everyone? Or have they seen? Fuck, it's a small island.
“Yeah?”

“Mmm. Just be careful with them,” Seth warned him, licking his fingers as he finished off his pizza slice before digging a napkin out to wipe his fingers clean. “You know, they can sometimes be players here. You know Dean? He said he was heading over to your place last night.”

“I remember him,” Kevin nodded.

“Well, he's not the only one. It's easy to get hurt by these guys and their friends,” Seth warned him. “I learned that the hard way my first year here.”

Kevin glanced at him, resisting the urge to get defensive. “Thanks for the warning,” he nodded. “I'd better go finish baking for tonight, though.”

“Already? Man, you just got here.”

“Oh, Troy will stay and socialize for both of us,” Kevin said lightly.

Seth nodded. “Come on back next week, yeah? We get together for lunch every Saturday. You two are more than welcome to come here. You're a lot more down-to-earth than...” he trailed off, then cleared his throat. “Some.”

Kevin bit back a smile. As much as he disliked James already, he liked Seth. “I will,” he promised as he headed for the door. “See you later, Troy.”

“Bye,” Troy called out from where he leaned on the wall awfully close to Eric. Kevin tried not to laugh. He'd say Troy was going to wind up getting them both in some professionally awkward situations, but frankly, Kevin knew he was much more likely to do that right now. It was clear that his thing with Eli was slowly making its way into public knowledge.

Seth seemed to have good intentions with his warning, but it wasn't going to dissuade Kevin.

He craved Eli's touch.