Mandarin Orange: Sweet and Sour (17 page)

It did something. It didn’t make him forget how Riley had felt under him, naked and hard and muscled and demanding more. The shower wasn’t good enough to even make a dent in the memory of all of that. Neither was the orgasm Kelly wrung from his own body as he replayed the night before. Worse than not making a dent, the masturbation only had Kelly’s body anxious to do it again. Preferably with Riley watching.

So it was a good thing that Riley wasn’t there, Kelly decided as he dried off and slipped into a lightweight pair of drawstring pants. It was easier to avoid temptation when the temptation was somewhere else.

“Duh,” Kelly grumbled, even as he made his way to the kitchen and started coffee brewing. “Just like it’s easier to avoid a car crash if you don’t drive.”

He rolled his eyes at his own obvious observations, then picked up Goober’s bowl and put a hefty scoop into it. Kelly frowned when the sound of kibble didn’t bring the dog running. “Goobs,” he called out, “time for breakfast!”

Silence still greeted him, and it was only then that Kelly considered the idea that Riley hadn’t actually left, as such, but was only gone for as long as it would take to walk Goober.

“Crap.”
I don’t want to see him, don’t want to talk about anything, because he wanted whatever the hell we did last night to mean something and it can’t and he’s straight, even if he got off on us rubbing and I’m obviously a guy, but he said it was just me, not guys in general and maybe that means something, but what? He’s not into guys, except he wants me, but what if I get all wrapped up in him and he decides he wants a woman because he’s straight, aside from me, and I don’t know what’s happening, even in my own mind! Thank God I’m moving in downstairs today. Otherwise I’d be a complete basket-case.

Like he wasn’t already. God.

He was jittery even before the coffee finished brewing, just from the expectation that Riley might be back at any moment. Kelly wasn’t sure about whether the jitteriness was from wanting to see the man or not. He did want to see Goober, though. If only to give the big mutt a hug for being so good the night before. Kelly was pretty sure he would have been even more freaked out than he was if Goobs had interrupted whatever the hell he and Riley had been doing.

Less than a second later, Kelly decided that he should punish the dog for
not
interrupting them, but that was unfair. Goober was a dog, after all. How would
he
know that his personal human was doing something so stupid that stupid was a good three exits back in the rearview mirror of Kelly’s life?

“Oh, God. I am so screwed.” His voice sounded loud all of a sudden. Like the fact that Goobs wasn’t there to hear him somehow let the space amplify things. Nothing else sounded unusually strident, though. The coffee machine’s hiss-and-spit didn’t have any excessive volume. Nor did the water coming from the tap in the sink when Kelly turned it on.

Even the phone sounded like it was at a normal enough volume when it rang, and while Kelly was still trying to figure out what was wrong with him, he answered it with a grunt.

“So what time do you guys need us over there?”

Kelly’s caffeine-deprived brain stuttered for a moment while he tried to identify the voice. “Um. Pauly?”

A snort answered him. “As if. It’s Randy. Hi, Kelly. Sorry, I thought you were Ry-ry. So what time should we be there?”

On the one hand, Kelly realized, he really hated it when anyone called Riley Ry-ry. It was a stupid nickname and didn’t belong on a grown man. It made Riley sound stupid whenever anyone called him by it.

On the other hand, “I didn’t know you guys were coming over at all,” he admitted.

Randy laughed. “Oh, please. Your new place is ready and everything’s supposed to be delivered today. Where else would we be?”

Kelly sighed. Silently, but still he sighed. “I’m not so sure
anything’s
ready. Last time I checked, the bedroom still needed painting and the bathroom wasn’t finished.” Neither of which were enough to keep Kelly from moving in with all his new stuff, but Randy didn’t need to know that. Except Randy apparently did.

“Ry-ry had the painters there at the ass-crack of dawn,” Randy said. “And the grouting-guy’s probably done by now, too. Riley told James about it late last night. It should all be easy-peasy. Or so Ry-ry said.”

There was nothing accusatory in Randy’s voice, but Kelly still heard
something
there. Whatever it was, he didn’t like it. And he didn’t want Randy, Pauly, and James coming over to help him get settled, for God’s sake.

“Are you really sure you guys want to be here today? It’s just going to be a lot of moving things around, and that doesn’t strike me as something you’re into.” Kelly spoke with the knowledge that he might be destroying three burgeoning friendships, but he just couldn’t stand the idea of seeing the guys Riley called the twinkies-three right then. “Let me get everything organized, okay? Then I’ll have a party or something.”

Randy pouted through the phone lines better than Kelly had ever thought possible. “What are you trying to say?” he said, sounding annoyed and maybe even a bit offended. “I’ll have you know we can be just as butch as the next guy. Well, maybe not as butch as Ry-ry, but then who could? No, we’ll be there. Possibly with bells on. We might even bring pastries, but I can’t swear to it.” And apparently Randy had mood-swings down pat because he didn’t seem anything but amused by the time Kelly gave in.

Kelly had barely taken a deep breath after hanging up when he heard the front door to his... no, Riley’s. When he heard the front door to
Riley’s
apartment opening. He wondered for a moment whether he’d need to explain himself again to Riley, but then Goober galloped through the living room and homed in on Kelly, and there wasn’t much time to worry about anything but staying upright.

Once Goobs calmed down a bit, Kelly couldn’t help agreeing with the refrain Riley, and even Riley’s best friend Jeremy, had been singing since their separate introductions to Goobs.

Goober needed a doggy-dentist in the worst possible way, and it was far easier to think about that than Riley. Riley, who was perched on one arm of the couch while Kelly ignored him entirely, or as entirely as possible. Even while a part of Kelly that wasn’t buried as deeply as Kelly would have liked didn’t want to ignore Riley at all.

***

Riley didn’t know exactly what was going on, but after two hours of rearranging the living room furniture that had arrived that morning, he was starting to think Pauly, Randy, and James were running interference. It seemed like every time he tried to get close to Kelly, whether to help the guy or just get all up in Kelly’s space, one of the twinkies-three was there. So far, it was kind of funny, but Riley could see himself getting pissed off if the guys kept it up for much longer.

Sadly, nobody but Riley seemed to know that because fuck if Kelly wasn’t playing along. Shit, more than playing along, Kelly was actively encouraging the cock-block, even if that wasn’t the right phrase. It was the middle of the fucking day and there were more deliveries due to arrive at any time, so it wasn’t as though there was much chance of sex right then. But if the guys didn’t stop whatever fucking game they were playing, Riley wouldn’t be able to get anywhere, damn it.

He lifted one heavy wooden end table for the fifth time and cocked his head. “Hey, Kelly. Where did you want this fucking thing again? And don’t tell me ‘by the window,’ because that’s where it was three moves ago and you didn’t like it there.”

Kelly wouldn’t even look at him, Riley saw. Fuck if Kelly wasn’t doing some shit with one of the cushions on the new couch, but Riley thought it was just a ploy to avoid eye contact. Jesus fucking Christ.

Pauly giggled and strolled across the disordered living room, holding a tray of drinks. Pauly and the guys had brought the tray. And the drinks. And snacks... Pauly hadn’t done anything but wander around offering refreshments while the rest of them worked.

“Oh, don’t worry about the table,” Pauly ordered. “It can wait until we’ve got everything else in place. Just put it by the wall, right, Kelly?”

Kelly nodded, and Riley wasn’t finding Pauly or anyone else funny anymore.

“Good thing I’ve been hauling this fucking piece of shit around for fucking ever, then!” Riley glared at Pauly, then Randy and James, and finally at the source of his angry, unsettled feelings. “You know what? Fuck it. I’m done here. You guys have fun, but I’m through. Fuck it!”

Yeah, fuck it. And fuck Kelly, too, but not in the fun way. Bastard. And how the fuck did someone go from rubbing all over him one minute to treating him like he didn’t even fucking exist in less than twenty-four hours? From “we’re still friends” to complete silence?

Riley didn’t know, and he didn’t care, either. He didn’t. Except once he’d stormed out of Kelly’s new apartment and stomped up the stairs to his own, Riley... well, he still didn’t know, but he sure as fuck cared. He didn’t particularly want to care, but damned if he didn’t.
Shit.

He turned on the TV, more to break the quiet of his own place and cover the noises coming from below than anything else. Then he headed for the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the fridge. He paused with the door still open, cold air blasting forth, and snagged a second bottle before closing the fridge and heading back to the living room. The couch was calling his fucking name, and with the way he was feeling, he’d want the second beer before long, anyway.

A sip, then change the channel. Sip, change the fucking channel. Sip, channel. It had a rhythm all its own and Riley fell into it, pausing only to set his empty bottle on the floor and open the other drink. He paused in his surfing, watching some half-naked woman with huge breasts bounce in some sort of video on one of the music channels, then snorted and moved on. Another pause, however many channels later, became a full stop, and Riley settled in to watch an old Lassie movie.

Another beer and the rest of the black and white film had Riley feeling more mellow than earlier. “That Lassie was a hell of a dog,” Riley said to the television as the credits scrolled over the screen about five times too fast to read. Goober was a hell of a dog, too, but the poor mutt was tied up out back. Not that Goober seemed to mind. Water and food were out there and about thirty feet of rope. Just enough to keep him from running to the front of the house where he’d get in the way of the delivery people.

A loud spate of laughter sounded from the downstairs, and Riley frowned. There hadn’t been any laughing while he’d been helping. In fact, aside from the occasional conversational attempt by the twinkies-three, it had been pretty fucking solemn. That the guys were obviously having a better time without him? Oh, that sucked more than Riley would ever admit out loud.

He was entirely willing to cop to the hopeful leaping of his heart when he heard the apartment door opening behind him, though.
Kelly
, he thought, a smile breaking out across his lips as he turned to look over the back of the couch. He did his best to hold on to the smile when he saw Jeremy, but Riley couldn’t swear to succeeding.

“Man, you look like someone died,” Jeremy said, closing the door behind him. “I figured you’d be dancing a jig, since you’ve somehow managed to avoid the big bunch of crazy that’s going on downstairs.” He grinned, and Riley’s smile started to feel a bit more real.

“Dude.” Yeah, somehow Jeremy being there had Riley feeling a little bit better. Less alone, and not just in the sense of having another person in the apartment. “
Lassie
almost did die, or maybe that was Timmy. Whatever. Go grab yourself a fucking beer. There’s gotta be some shit on that’s worth watching.”

Jeremy was gone in a flash, only to return a minute or so later, a beer in each hand. “So. What’s going on? We got here, like, five minutes ago, and as soon as I asked where you were, everyone went quiet. What the hell did you do, Riley?”

Riley snorted and accepted one of the beers, then shrugged as Jeremy sat on the couch. “Fuck if I know. He had me dragging shit around, over and over, like I’m some fucking pack mule. So when I got sick of the shit, I blew it off and came up here. If he’s pissed off that I’m not down there helping, it’s his own fucking fault.” Good. That sounded reasonable. And not sulky at all. Unless maybe it really did sound sulky, because Jer was giving him that
look
. Like Riley was being stupid.

“I’m guessing by
he
, you mean Kelly?” Jeremy arched a brow, clearly prying. Then again, it wasn’t really prying when Riley already knew he was going to tell Jeremy everything.

“We had sex.” Riley actually felt himself lightening up more when Jeremy’s eyes opened comically wide. “Well, sort-of sex. Last night. And now he’s being a fucking prick and it pissed me off, so I was a prick right back. The fucking twinkies weren’t any help, either. I thought those assholes were supposed to be my friends.”

And that was part of it, too, Riley realized. He’d been counting on the guys to... something. Be supportive or whatever. Not that the twinkies-three knew what was going on, but they had to know
something
was up. Riley didn’t snap and snarl often. Except he’d been doing more of that than usual, ever since Kelly’d crashed into Riley’s Bronco and Riley’s life.

Jer’s eyes were still huge. It was fucking awesome. “Wait. You had sex with Kelly? What do you mean, ‘sort-of’? How the fuck do you have ‘sort-of’ sex? Either you did or you didn’t, there’s no ‘sort-of’ option!”

Another shrug and swallow of beer, then Riley answered. “Dude. If you really want the details, we got naked. There was humping. It was fucking awesome, except for the part where he wouldn’t fucking
fuck
me. Then he got all freaked out or whatever because I’m straight and I guess he got fucked over by some straight dude. So now he hasn’t said a single word to me all day. I can give you the play-by-play if you need more info, you dick.”

“Frottage?” Jeremy’s face was red and he made a sound that was some strange mix of a laugh and a groan. “Oh, for... You seriously.” Jer shook his head and Riley smirked. “And why am I the one who’s blushing here?” Jeremy added, all gruff and annoyed.