Open Road (14 page)

“I’m Jason and drunk-o over there is Ryan. The others are… at the bar ordering drinks. Do they
not
get what bottle service means?” Jason laughed. “What are your names?”

“I’m Angus, and this is Reece. We’re just here for the night.”

“No kidding. Awesome. You guys are great together.”

Which would be the second guy in three days to assume they were a couple. Angus guessed he had to quit being surprised. “Thanks,” he said.

They sank down into the swanky couches just as the rest of the crew was returning, but there wasn’t room for both of them. Reece had Angus get up, and then he pulled him down onto his lap and wrapped his arms around Angus’s waist. Which was… fine. Of course. Angus tried not to notice how nice and strong Reece’s arms felt around him. Reece was his
brother
practically
.
Right?

Jason offered them drinks, which they happily took, and they were introduced around by their impromptu host, who of all of them was the most sober, if that really said much.

Angus didn’t think about what he was going to do much before he took Reece’s hand from his waist and wound their fingers together. He kept sipping his drink and laughing at the bachelor party antics.

“First time in a gay bar, boys?” he finally asked.

Most of them said yes. Jason said he’d been there a lot, since he used to be one of the bouncers.

“I bet you were popular with the customers,” Angus murmured.

Jason chuckled. “Yeah, I kinda miss working here, to tell the truth.” Oops. He hadn’t thought Jason would hear him. “Just got an offer for a day job so I don’t have to be a vampire. It was cool that my old boss got me this table for the night, though.”

Angus wondered how many of the VIP tables were secured with connections rather than a huge stack of cash.

“Are you having fun?” he asked the rest of them.

He got a chorus of drunken nods.

“This place is
awesome
,” one of them said. “I love gay guys.”

He was catcalled by the general group, and they all dissolved into tipsy giggles.

Angus turned and smiled at Reece. Reece smiled back up at him, and even though Reece was Reece and straight and his brother practically, it felt different. Not like at the concert the night before when they had cuddled up like they used to. They were
holding hands
. And Reece was… kinda close. His eyes were so pretty underneath the glowing lights, and if Angus leaned closer, he could probably kiss Reece. And the weirdest part? He
wanted
to.

Reece had these lips… pinker than most guys, puffy in a good way. Pretty and shapely. He’d be a good kisser. Angus was sure of it. He—

“Hey, come dance with us!” Ryan said. He shook Angus’s shoulder. And the moment was gone.

“You want to dance?” he asked Reece.

“Sure.” Reece grinned at him.

Angus hopped up, but kept holding Reece’s hand, and he led him out to the dance floor. “Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad we’re here.”

“Me too.”

Angus wound his arms around Reece’s neck again, and they let the beat wash over them, hot and dark and heavy. The other guys bounced around and danced and shook the lighted flower leis they were all wearing. They were like a big group of puppies, and Angus couldn’t help laughing at them.

“They’re sweet,” Reece said.

“Yeah. They are.”

ANGUS WASN’T
sure exactly how it happened—probably some sort of hinky Vegas magic. But he knew they were in the club, and then all of a sudden they were out on the strip, galloping along with Jason, Ryan, and the rest of the gang, who still remained rather nameless. He had Reece’s hand clutched tight in his, and he could barely feel the ground with his feet.

It was quite late, had to be nearly one in the morning, but the strip was still populated, not as crowded as it was earlier, but full of happy people, lots a bit drunk, some celebrating a win or two. Angus barely noticed them, though. They went by in a blur of color and happiness.

“Where are you guys staying?” Jason asked. They were in front of the Venetian—and discussing if they wanted to go hang out at the bar in there.

“Planet Hollywood.”

“Oh, that’s not too far from here.”

“Really?” Angus had no concept of how far they’d gone, only that it seemed like he never wanted the night to end. The noise and the lights and the haze of cocktails made everything feel better. Reece’s hand in his made everything feel better too.

“Yeah. Only a few hotels down.”

“But each of these hotels, is, like, five miles.” Reece groaned.

“Are your feet tired?” Angus felt super concerned all of a sudden, and then weavy, and then like he wanted to put his face into Reece’s neck and smell it forever. He did a variation of the third thing. He snuggled into Reece and inhaled. “You smell good.”

“My feet are okay. And thanks, babe.”

“You two are fucking adorable.” Jason clapped Reece on the back. “Let’s go in here. Tao is super nice, and my buddy, Rafe, is one of the bouncers. He’ll let us in for free. They’ve got to be winding down for the night at the front door, anyway.”

“Okay.”

Angus took Reece’s hand, and they followed the bachelor party guys to the long escalators that led through an impressive front canal area full of statues and stuff, up to the main entrance of the casino.

“This place is amazing,” Reece said.

“Oh, didn’t you have a chance to look at it yet?”

“No, we’ve been in the ones down on the other end, MGM and that whole corner.”

“I walked through here last time I came,” Angus said. It had been a quick trip while Brad and his gang were playing tennis somewhere.

“With
Brad
,” Reece muttered.

“Yes, babe. With Brad.” Angus smoothed the front of Reece’s button-down.

“Yikes. Ex trouble,” Jason said with a cringe. “You’ll like Tao. Sometimes there’s celebs in there and shit. It’s pretty swanky.”

“Like who?” Angus asked. He loved celeb gossip. It was a weakness.

“I don’t know.” Jason shrugged. “Celebs.”

Angus chuckled, and clutched Reece’s hand to keep from weaving. “I’ll get you guys a round. It’s cool to hang out with you.”

“My fiancée will be jealous,” Ryan said. He smiled in Reece and Angus’s general direction. Angus was surprised he’d managed to hold on to the escalator thing all the way into the lobby.

“Please don’t say that,” Jason muttered.

“Say what?” Reece asked.

“Aww Jesus.”

“Oh, she’s just always wanted a gay friend.”

Sober Angus might have gotten insulted at that—he was a person, not a damn Chihuahua—but drunk Angus just laughed and cuddled closer to Reece. “We are pretty amazing, as a species.”

“See?” Ryan said. “He doesn’t care. He’s cool.”

Jason just shook his head.

Their party trailed into Tao, had a few celeb-level drinks, then decided to walk down to another club for some more dancing. Most of the clubs were open until at least four. Angus started getting sleepy. He wanted to find the closest bed and collapse on it. To be honest, one more drink on a squishy VIP booth at Tao and it might be close enough to a bed for him to get horizontal.

“Hey, guys. I think I’m about to pass out.”

“Really, man?”

“Yeah. We walked around all afternoon and went swimming.” He chuckled. “My legs are going to feel like cement tomorrow.”

“We’ll be in the car all afternoon,” Reece reminded him.

“True.”

Angus didn’t want to leave Vegas behind, but he supposed as long as he wasn’t going home yet, he was okay with whatever they did, and Reece had mentioned earlier that he’d always wanted to see Santa Fe. It didn’t escape Angus’s notice that they kept getting farther and farther from home. He had to admit… he really didn’t mind.

“It was awesome meeting you guys,” Jason said. “Thanks for hanging.”

“Thank you for dragging us around. And letting us be VIPs with you,” Reece said. Angus’s only reaction was to smile.

“You want me to get you a cab back to your hotel?”

“We’ll make it fine if we walk, I think.”

“Cool.”

They parted with a round of bro hugs and congratulations to Ryan, then headed back down the strip to their room, where they passed out, which didn’t surprise either one of them.

Santa Fe

AS GOOD
as things had seemed with Angus when they were in Vegas, as manic and fun and happy as he’d been for those twenty-four hours, as they slowly drove away from Vegas, into the desert, he withdrew into himself. Reece didn’t get it. He’d been so happy when they were dancing, so cheerful at the pool, and smiling at the fountains and the lights and the people. But in the quiet of their car, surrounded by rocks and sand and not a whole lot else, he was quiet.

The drive out of Vegas was a lot prettier than the drive in. The rocks seemed to have more dimension somehow, and there was a hint of trees to come. Reece’s little Pacific Northwest soul yearned for them. He felt the change in altitude slowly, a tiny pop in his ear, a shift in the landscape. Reece liked the new surroundings. It was just… he didn’t like how quiet Angus was being. Especially after how sassy and happy he’d been the night before and that morning when they did the last of their sightseeing. It just seemed like the color had seeped out of him.

“Hey, you okay?” Reece finally asked.

“I guess. Why?”

“I feel like you’re mad at me or something. You’ve been really different since we got in the car. Did something weird happen last night?”

He’d felt it for a minute, when they were dancing on the floor and Angus was giggling up at him, when he’d been so close to leaning forward and running a line of kisses up the side of Angus’s neck. There
had
been something there, and he was worried Angus was freaked about it.

“No. Nothing happened.”

Do I dare ask?

Reece hadn’t ever been good at keeping quiet. “What’s up with you, then? You’ve been so quiet since we left.”

Angus shrugged and dropped his head back against the headrest. “I guess…. The people helped. The concert, and then the lights and the noise of Vegas. It helped me get out of myself a little, gave me something to look at and get lost in, I guess.”

“And now you’re stuck with me?” Reece wished he could take it back the second he said it, but he wasn’t perfect, and shit hurt him too sometimes. It shouldn’t bother him that he wasn’t enough to make Angus feel better, but it did.

“Seriously, Reece. Fuck off. You know it’s not you at all.” Angus scowled.

“It’s just….”

“I don’t know. Not having enough of a distraction. I start thinking again, and I
hate
thinking.”

“Missing Brad?”

“Do I really have to talk about this? I thought we’d talked about it.”

The four-minute conversation they’d had at the pool didn’t exactly constitute enough of a conversation about the past three months of Angus letting his life fall apart. But Reece let it go. They had a seriously long day in the car ahead of them. He didn’t really want an angry Angus on his hands for hours on end.

“No. You don’t have to talk about it.”

He plunked in a CD and let the music fill up the car, since Angus obviously didn’t want to talk to him and Reece wasn’t exactly in the mood to hold a conversation with himself. They drove through the desert, which did, in fact, turn into mountains and trees as they crossed the Arizona border and got nearer to Flagstaff. It felt a lot more like home. Reece breathed a bit easier. The desert had its own barren beauty, but there was comfort in the familiar green. It had been close to three hours since they’d left Vegas behind, and two since Angus had said a word. Reece concentrated on the landscape around them and tried to pretend he wasn’t hurt. He wondered if they should just pack it in. If Angus needed noise and distraction, then he could probably get it just as well in Portland. He didn’t need time with Reece if that wasn’t good enough.

Stop thinking about it….
Now Angus wasn’t the only one who needed a break from obsessing. They were quite the pair, weren’t they? He tried to breathe deeply and enjoy the mountains, trees, and golden fields of long grass.

“It’s gorgeous here,” he said to himself. He didn’t expect Angus to reply.

“It is,” Angus said quietly. It was the first thing he’d said since their argument. “Sorry I’m being a dick.”

“I just want to know what’s going on with you. I want to be your friend, but I can’t if I don’t get it.”

“Really. I told you. Whenever I get too much quiet time with my head, all I can do is picture him with that other guy, picture his friends laughing behind my back. I feel like such a goddamn fool. And now I’ve lost my apartment and my job and made it a million times worse. It’s better when I can’t think about it. That’s all. It’s not because you’re not enough. It’s just because… nothing is enough to really make me forget it, and it takes a lot to even come close.”

Reece couldn’t imagine how humiliated Angus must still feel, even after all those months. He felt a renewed surge of hatred toward Brad and hoped the day came soon when Brad never entered his thoughts. Or Angus’s. Reece was fucking tired of it.

He sighed. “You’re not a fool, babe. I know. Shit. I know it’s the most cliché of clichés, but you’re not a fool.
He’s
one.”

“For leaving me. Right?” Angus rolled his eyes, but he looked genuinely angry, not his usual brand of pseudo sarcasm.

“He is. He’s a huge fool, but you? You might not know it now, you sure as hell didn’t know it three months ago, but you’ve won the freaking lottery. He was bad for you, and you’re free of him.”

Angus sighed and was quiet for a few minutes. Reece thought he might have pissed him off, but he just stared out the window at the craggy hills. “It really is gorgeous here. I wouldn’t mind living here.”

“You’re not leaving Portland, are you?” Reece felt his heart race at the thought of Angus taking off. He didn’t blame him for not wanting to be anywhere near Brad, but Portland was pretty big. He could manage to lose him. The thing was, Reece didn’t want to lose Angus. Even Angus as he was after Brad screwed him up to the point where Reece wasn’t sure he was fixable.