Wayward Son (4 page)

The skepticism on Evan’s and Riley’s faces didn’t fade, but they didn’t argue with him either. “Have a good night,” Riley said. “Holler if you need anything.”

“Thanks.” Mikey took a detour to the kitchen to grab his backpack and a bottle of water and then headed to his room. He put the backpack on his desk chair, set the water on his nightstand, toed off his shoes…

… and then flopped back onto the mattress to stare up at the ceiling, unseeing.
Jesus
, he thought, mind whirling. He almost wished he’d never left Florida. That life might’ve been boring and stifling, but he could do with a little boring right now.

He sighed and pushed himself to his feet. Boring he could take care of. He reached for his backpack and pulled out the heavy tome on art history he’d been trying to read earlier. The art images themselves might be magnificent, but the dry text surrounding all that beauty could make for a great cure for insomnia.

After settling the backpack onto the floor, he sat down and prepared for an hour or two of mind-numbing, pseudo-educational oblivion.

“C’
MON
,
SLEEPYHEAD
.
Up and at ’em!”

Mikey groaned and shoved deeper into his pillow. “Too early.”

Riley was relentless. He plopped down onto the side of Mikey’s bed and shook his shoulder. “Nope. Never too early to hit the farmer’s market. If we don’t get there early, all the good stuff will be gone!”

Why Riley had decided Mikey had to go out produce shopping with him at too-fucking-early on a Saturday was something Mikey’s sleepy brain couldn’t begin to process. Unfortunately, another part of him knew Riley wouldn’t give up. He’d drag Mikey out of bed and into the car in his tighty-whities if Mikey didn’t get up and get dressed on his own.

“Coffee,” Mikey muttered. “Bring me all the coffee.”

Riley laughed and stood. “Not until you get out of the bed. Then you can have all the coffee in all the world if you like.”

Mikey took two deep breaths and then, in one move, rolled over and up to sit on the edge of the bed. The room spun but he managed a baleful glare up at Riley. “I’m up,” he groused. “Bring me caffeine.”

Laughter followed Riley out the door and down the hall, and Mikey fought his body’s pleas to roll right back into his warm spot on the mattress. He shoved himself to his feet and plodded toward the bathroom, shedding his underwear along the way.

He knew why Riley was forcing him out so early. He thought Mikey needed a distraction from everything that had happened the day before—and he wasn’t wrong about that. But sleep had been a nice distraction. Maybe he could sneak in a nap later that afternoon.

Dressed after a quick shower and feeling marginally more awake, Mikey headed for the kitchen and the promising smell of coffee. He arrived to find two oversized travel mugs sitting on the counter and Riley busy stuffing a bright pink shopping bag full of smaller reusable bags. Riley shot him a much-too-cheerful-for-so-early grin.

“Purple one’s for you,” he said, nodding at the coffee mugs. “Time to get going!”

Riley grabbed the pink glittery mug—Mikey was glad the pink obsession hadn’t affected Riley’s design style, because pink walls would’ve been much too much—and herded Mikey toward the door and down the hall to the elevator. They rode down to the parking deck in silence, sipping at their coffee, which wasn’t helping Mikey much with the whole waking-up thing. After they got to the car, Mikey blinked blearily at the clock on the console, which read 7:23 a.m. That couldn’t be right, could it? He shot Riley a glare. “Did you really wake me up before seven on a Saturday?”

“You’re lucky.” Riley started the car and turned to back out of his space. “I’m usually out the door by then. If I miss out on the good tomatoes, it’ll all be your fault.”

Mikey groaned and slid down in his seat. “Fate worse than death,” he grumbled. “Wake me when you’re done.”

Two seconds later dance music blasted from the speakers. Mikey winced but refrained, barely, from slapping his hands over his ears. He pushed farther down into his seat, ignoring Riley’s slightly off-key Rihanna sing-along, and chugged his coffee.

Caffeine, take me away!

A
N
HOUR
later Mikey was awake but still not all that happy about it as he followed Riley around like a combination of puppy and pack mule. He carried a bag in each hand, one loaded with tomatoes, peaches, and kumquats, of all things, and the other holding a six-pack of the special ginger ale Riley loved so much. Riley’s attention was currently on a table covered with stacks of corn on the cob, which he was sorting through and selecting as if searching for the perfect diamond among the rough.

Mikey’s phone vibrated in his pocket, and he considered ignoring it, but his fingers were getting sore from the weight of the shopping bags, so he set them down next to his feet and dug out his phone. The text was from Jimmy, no surprise.

Morning, honey. Hope I didn’t wake you. Did you hear from Evan’s dad yet?

Mikey snorted and tapped out a reply:
Riley dragged me out at o-dark-thirty. Following him around a farmer’s market. And yeah, meeting him on Monday.

The reply took a few moments:
Great! I’m headed back to the resort. Some problem with a mess in the hot tub. I’m betting I know what that’s about. Keep me updated and call if you need me for anything. Xoxo

“I take it that was one of your loverboys?”

Mikey lifted his head, realizing he had a silly grin on his face only when he met Riley’s knowing gaze. He blushed and shoved the phone back into his pocket. “Jimmy,” he confirmed. “Just checking to see if I heard from Mr. Day.”

Riley lifted an eyebrow. “Mmm-hmm.” He turned back to the bag he was filling with ears of corn. “So I’m thinking a different kind of grilled veggies with dinner. Corn, onions, maybe even some pineapple. We can run by the grocery store for that and some good steaks. I have some in the freezer, but might as well pick them up fresh, right?”

Mikey shrugged and wished for more coffee. “Sounds good.”

Riley huffed, but he didn’t say anything more until after he’d paid for his corn and thanked the vendor. Then he turned back to Mikey and waved to the bags that still sat on the ground. “C’mon. Chop-chop. We’ve got one more row of stalls to check out before we go.”

Resigned to his fate, Mikey picked up his bags and followed Riley past the last few stalls and around the corner to the next row—where he came to a dead stop.

“Artists’ Alley,” a sign overhead declared, though Mikey hardly noticed, his attention captured by the booth directly opposite where they stood. Eye-poppingly bright, the oversized abstract paintings done in colors Mikey didn’t know existed reached across the row and burrowed into Mikey’s chest, drawing him forward as if they’d literally wrapped fingers around his heart. As he approached, the designs resolved into distinctive shapes: an apple with an arrow through it, two figures entwined in a loving embrace, an exuberant child with arms flung wide.

“You like?”

Mikey focused on the tiny young woman standing between two of the canvases, arms crossed across her chest. “I like,” he said. “Yours?”

“Yep.” She grinned up at the largest one, which stood at least a foot taller than her, then turned back to Mikey. “I’m little, but I’m loud.” She untangled her arms and held out a hand. “Ava,” she said. “You’re looking at what’s left of my senior project.”

“Mikey.” He shook her hand before her words registered. “Wait. Did you go to SCAD?”

“Yep.” She planted her hands on her hips and rocked up onto her toes. “Graduated in May.”

“Awesome!” Mikey’s exhaustion sloughed away as excitement surged through him. “I just started there this summer. What was your major?”

“Graphic arts.” Ava waved, beckoning him deeper under her tent. “C’mon, I got a couple chairs in the back if you want to talk.”

Mikey hesitated and turned back to Riley, who stood two feet behind him.

“Go ahead,” Riley urged, holding out a hand. “I’ll take this stuff to the car and finish up my shopping.”

Mikey grinned and handed everything over. “Thanks.” It wasn’t until Riley winked and walked away that Mikey realized this was why Riley had brought him out. Not for the produce or even the best-friend-togetherness time, but so Mikey could spend time with some fellow artists.

I’ll have to figure out how to thank him later
, Mikey thought before following Ava to the back of her space.

“A
VA
HAD
a lot of good advice.” Mikey knew he was monopolizing the discussion at dinner with Riley and Evan, but neither of them had objected. “Told me a couple of professors to try to avoid, but she said most of them are great. Gave me some suggestions on finding parking in the fall when things get crowded.” He gave a wry smile. “Well, mostly she said ride MARTA if I can. Apparently things get
really
crowded.”

After talking with Ava for a good half hour, Mikey had felt bad about leaving without buying anything, but she’d waved him off. “I only need to sell one to make up for the cost of the booth, and that’s already covered.” Mikey still thought once he was working again he’d try to get one. Her work was amazing.

“I’m glad you had a good chat.” Riley took a sip of his second glass of ginger ale. “I didn’t know there’d be a SCAD grad there, but I figured you’d find someone to talk to.”

Mikey reached across to squeeze Riley’s hand. “Thank you,” he said. “It helped a lot.”

Riley looked uncomfortable with the praise, but he smiled briefly. “You’re welcome.” He turned his attention to his boyfriend. “So I was thinking maybe Logger’s tonight. What do you think?”

Evan snorted and stabbed his fork into his last bite of steak. “Is it our anniversary or something?”

“Yes. Five weeks. I’m keeping score.” Riley rolled his eyes at Mikey, who would bet it actually
was
five weeks. “I just feel like having a few drinks and listening to some weird music.” He waved a hand toward Mikey. “And this one hasn’t yet heard the wonder that is country-dance fusion.”

Mikey tilted his head. “I’m not sure I want to know.” And he certainly didn’t want to intrude on Evan and Riley’s date night, though he knew if he voiced that concern, they’d shout him down in tandem.

Instead he fell back on school. “In fact, I need to get to work on my reading for art history. Yesterday was a total loss, and I have three chapters to read before class. Plus a sketch to do for drawing class.” He tried a smile. “Rain check?”

For a moment he didn’t think Riley was going to let it go, but eventually he nodded. “All right. Not this time. But we won’t let you become a hermit either.”

“Agreed,” Evan chimed in, and that made Mikey smile for real. Evan had been great since he and Riley started dating, always friendly and open toward Mikey and never showing signs of resenting his being there. Part of the reason Mikey had taken to spending more time with Cory was to give Evan and Riley more alone time at Riley’s, though of course that wasn’t wholly altruistic of him.

As if on cue, his phone rang, and when he checked, the display read COCO LAMÉ. He glanced at Riley, who waved him off. “Go on, talk to your boyfriend,” he teased, and Mikey blushed even as he stood and headed toward the hallway to his bedroom.

“Hey.”

“Hey, honey.” Cory’s voice flowed over Mikey like syrup, sweet and sticky. “Jimmy called me this morning, but I wanted to check in on you too. How are you holding up?”

Mikey was in his room by then, door closed behind him, and he sat on the edge of his bed. “I’m doing okay. Riley kept me distracted all morning, and then had me helping with dinner and stuff this afternoon. I haven’t had time to get all moody.”

Cory laughed. “Well, good. I like it when you’re not all moody.”

“You and me both.” Mikey lay back on the bed and shoved an extra pillow under his head with his free hand. “Did you have a good day?”

“If doing laundry and cleaning counts as good, then yeah. But hey, the place is sparkling. I’m thinking about having a pool party again soon. Or maybe just a few people over. I dunno.”

“That would be great.” Mikey stared up at the ceiling. “Just a few people would be great. I mean,” he added quickly, “it’s your party, so invite whoever you want, but….”

Cory made a soft sound. “You are the first person on the guest list, and I want to do what’ll make you happy. So just a few people it is. Maybe Monday night? Jimmy said he’ll come back for part of the week. He can’t stay the whole time, but he’ll be back for my show next weekend.”

Mikey had been about to say Jimmy didn’t need to come back into town just for him, but the mention of Cory’s show caught his attention. “Oh fuck. I totally forgot about that. Next Saturday, right?”

“That’s right. And don’t worry. I wouldn’t let you forget. Not after the way you reacted at my last show.”

Mikey’s face warmed at the memory of the first time he’d laid eyes on Cory when he was in the guise of his drag persona, Coco. She’d captured Mikey’s attention from the get-go, and getting to know Cory had only intrigued Mikey more. He couldn’t wait to see Coco strut her stuff again.

“I’m really looking forward to it.” The words came out in a low, breathy tone, unsurprising considering the way Mikey’s body was reacting to his thoughts. Cory’s throaty laugh only made Mikey that much harder.

“How about you tell me about it?”

Mikey blinked. Did Cory want him to…. “Are you asking me for phone sex?” His voice squeaked on the last two words.

“I’m just asking to listen in on whatever you want to do to take care of that hard-on I know you have.”

Mikey swallowed, his semierection going right to full at the thought. The thought of what, he wasn’t sure, but he was pretty sure it was the idea of jerking off for Cory’s listening pleasure that had him suddenly so turned on.

“Honey? You don’t have to do anything you don’t—”