HOUND DOG met them at Four-Footed Friends.
Dr. Lee was there too. Although he introduced himself as Dr. Garrow, which Blue found confusing until H.D. whispered that everyone called him Dr. Lee. He didn’t understand, but all he cared about was that Chewie was awake.
Chewie’s tail went a mile a minute when he saw Blue, and that felt good. Really good. He whined and mushed his face against Blue’s hand and licked his fingers.
“Oh, my Chewie,” Blue cried. “My big strong boy. Look at that cast!”
Blue turned to H.D. and the vet.
“Can I take him home?”
The two men looked at each other, then at Blue.
“It might be good to leave him another day,” Dr. Lee (Garrow?) said. “Just so we can keep an eye on him. And he can stay relaxed.”
No! Blue looked to Hound Dog for help.
Except he didn’t. “You know he’ll be jumping all around and everything,” H.D. said. “And that leg is in a poor way.”
H.D. was agreeing? Rebel of the world? The guy who followed no rules? Of course, that’s what Blue liked about him. He’d seen so much of it at Men’s Festival. But thinking of Festival made him recall something he didn’t want to remember.
Blue turned to John. John bit his lower lip. “Maybe they’re right,” he replied.
The only reason Blue didn’t burst into tears was because the big strong man had said it.
“Can I see him again later today?” Blue asked.
Now it was Hound Dog’s turn to bite his lip, but after a pause he said, “Oh, what the fuck. I’ll want to check up on him and see how he’s doing anyway. He’ll want to use the bathroom. He’s refusing to go in his cage, so I was going to have to carry him outside anyway. So fine! Why not? How about I call you about an hour before I leave the house, and we can meet here?”
“Sounds good,” Blue said—lying because he wanted Chewie with him right now. He told John that in the LS 600.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” John said.
What? What had he just said? Blue tried not to glare at him. They were at a stoplight, and John looked over at Blue, his expression unreadable again.
“You don’t think it’s a good idea for Chewie to be with someone who loves him?” Blue asked.
“Of course I do,” John replied. “I just want him to be safe.”
Safe? Safe? “And you don’t think he’s safe with me?” Oh hell, of course he didn’t. “Because it’s my fault he got hit by the car?” Was that what he meant?
John threw him a startled look. “No!” He shook his head and started the car into motion again. “I….” He stopped talking.
“What?” Blue huffed at him.
“Your house….”
My house? “My house?” What’s wrong with my house? “What’s wrong with my house?”
“Blue…. You don’t even have electricity. If you don’t need it, don’t you think Chewie does?”
Blue blinked at him. He couldn’t help but feel hurt. “You mean because my house isn’t as nice as your banker’s house?”
“Blue! I have electricity. You have a weak spot in the foyer that Chewie could fall through. You have a step that could break. Don’t you think—”
“I don’t think we can all be bankers!”
John pulled the car over to the shoulder. Threw it in park. “Blue?”
“What?” Blue barked.
“Is that your real name?”
Blue’s mouth fell open. “What?”
John gave him a weak smile. “I—I was just wondering. Is Blue your birth name?”
Blue nodded.
“Really?”
Blue nodded again. “My parents were New Agers. They were the coolest.” And they were. So wonderful. “They thought names like David and J—” Shit! He’d almost said John! “Fred were boring. They thought unique names were more important.”
“So Blue?”
“You don’t like it?” he asked, trying not to feel hurt once again.
“It’s just that… well, they say that there is power in our words. I read that in this book about leaping….”
“Leaping?” Blue asked.
John shrugged. “Isn’t blue about being sad?”
Now Blue shrugged. “Sometimes. But it’s also the color of the sky,” he said, remembering his mother’s words when he’d asked her the same question long, long ago. He never forgot her answer. “And the sea. It’s a masculine color. And it symbolizes trust and wisdom, faith and truth, intelligence and sincerity.”
John nodded.
“Heck, they named my—”
John kissed him.
It was a very nice kiss. And it was right there on the street where, even though they were in John’s car, anyone could see. Blue’s heart raced, and he could almost forget the fact that John had dissed the place where he lived.
John pulled back ever so slightly, and Blue looked at him in surprise.
“I’m sorry, Blue. I didn’t mean to imply anything bad about your home.”
Blue sighed. Felt a pang. “No. You’re right.” Of course he was. I’m living in an abandoned house! “Chewie does need a better place to heal. But I have what I have and—”
“You could stay with me,” John said.
Blue was even more surprised.
“J-just… I mean, at least a few days, until Chewie was doing—is doing—better?”
Blue felt a hitch in his heart. John was looking at him with those beautiful eyes of his, and they were so full of kindness. Such a nice man.
But Blue couldn’t do that to John. Stick John with him. Because in a few days the same thing would happen that always happened. He would get tired of Blue. Blue would do something stupid or upset him, or he would just start driving John crazy. He didn’t want—
“Blue, I’m a little scared.”
Then Blue was more than surprised; he was astonished. John? Scared? The two words didn’t seem to go together.
“You?”
John nodded. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“Never done what before?”
“You. Me. I’ve never….”
Shit. What was John saying? They’d just met yesterday.
“The gay thing,” John said. “I’ve never….”
Oh.
But, then, he’d suspected, hadn’t he? It made sense.
“I’m freaking a little…,” John continued.
Blue sighed.
“But I am also more excited than I think I’ve ever been. I had no idea I could feel like this.”
Feel like this?
“And I don’t know if you and I… I mean… I know it’s soon. I don’t… I don’t know what this feeling means. What I am feeling for…. God! I don’t know what I mean! You’re half my age, and you probably like guys more your age and—”
“I would be happy to stay with you a few days,” Blue said suddenly, not even realizing he was going to. His heart was racing again. What am I doing? “At least until Chewie gets a little better.”
Maybe there would be blueberry muffins.
John smiled.
“I WOULD be happy to stay with you a few days,” Blue said suddenly, and John’s pounding heart practically stopped. “At least until Chewie gets a little better.”
John smiled.
There had been a moment there. When he’d told Blue he didn’t think it was a good idea for Blue to take Chewie home. He’d upset the young man. But how the hell was Blue’s dog going to recover in that falling-apart house? The pain that had been on Blue’s face!
But he had to tell Blue the truth. He had to respect him enough for that. It hadn’t been easy, though! He could solve any problem at the bank. He could wheel and deal and do magic. He could oversee scholarships, promotional material, media spots, website content, any events the bank sponsored and so much more. But he couldn’t talk when there wasn’t a desk between him and another person? Couldn’t be human? Which is why he laid it on the line, just like he would with a client at the bank. Reminded him that Blue didn’t even have electricity.
At least he found out that Blue was really his name.
“You don’t like it?” Blue had said, and John was sure that he’d bungled things again, but then he’d explained himself. What’s more, he kissed Blue. He didn’t even know he was going to do it. He just leaned in and kissed him. It was quite possibly one of the most the most impulsive things he had ever done. He couldn’t believe he’d done it. But as he captured Blue’s lips with his own, really kissed him, he knew it might be the sweetest, most magical thing he’d ever done as well.
Am I boring now, Vivian?
When he pulled back, he saw that Blue just might be as surprised as he was.
But he also knew he needed to apologize. “I’m sorry, Blue,” he said, deciding not to think through his words. He just threw caution to the wind. “You could stay with me.” My God! What did I just do?
Oh, the look of surprise on Blue’s face.
And why not! John had just shocked the shit out of his own self!
What am I doing?
But the very thought of waking up with Blue in his bed again…. And again.
Not that Blue had to stay in his bed.
Just to make him coffee in the morning would be enough. Help him with Chewie. Hell, he’d carry the dog in and out of the house!
His heart pounded even at that!
Just because this beautiful boy gave himself to me so freely last night—his heart pounded so hard it hurt—doesn’t mean anything more than one night! But as crazy as it was, John wanted more. He thought of waking up this morning to Blue in his bed and he knew he wanted to wake up every damned morning with him. Sure, it was crazy. He didn’t know Blue. But he wanted to.
But that was when Blue had said the magic words. Words that made John’s heart soar!
“I would be happy to stay with you a few days,” Blue said. “At least until Chewie gets a little better.”
For the first time in forever, John knew what leaping was all about. And that sometimes, nets did appear.