Kate Sherwood - Dark Horse 02 - Out of the Darkness (12 page)

Evan is looking after drinks now, pouring wine for himself and Jeff then looking questioningly at Dan. Dan looks from the wine to the bourbon then nods at the bourbon. Wine’s fine, but at this time of night, he prefers the hard stuff.

Jeff has covered three slices of bread with an assortment of the different cheeses and puts them on the little tray for the toaster oven. Then he goes back to the counter and cuts several more slices of cheese, lifting his eyes slyly toward Dan. Dan grins and his hand shoots out to collect his treat. He wonders if stick bugs eat cheese. If they don’t, they’re missing out.

Evan and Jeff settle onto the stools around the breakfast bar. Now that the task is taken care of, it’s a bit awkward. Do they dive right into a big conversation or more small talk, or…? Puppet-Chris suggests they just jump right to the sex, and for once Dan completely agrees with him. Except that he doesn’t want the cheese bread to burn.

“So….” Jeff’s rumble fills the room, and he’s looking at Dan in a way that makes it hard to not return the gaze. “Evan said you were a bit… discouraged… earlier.” Okay, apparently they’re jumping right in.

But Dan doesn’t know what to say. He can’t deny that he was, and he can’t pretend that he didn’t have good reason to be. But here, in this cozy kitchen with these two warm, beautiful men, he can’t really imagine walking away. He begins to think that Evan may have a point with his constant-contact strategy. They’re both still waiting for him, so he crams three pieces of cheese in his mouth. Ha! He can’t talk with his mouth full!

But the bastards wait him out. He chews until the cheese is a liquefied mess that he doesn’t even want to swallow, but they’re still staring at him, so finally he chokes it back and reaches for his glass to rinse the over-chewed taste out of his mouth. And maybe to give him a little courage.

“I feel a bit better now,” he ventures, and Evan rolls his eyes. “We waited that long, and that’s all you’re gonna give us?”

“Well, fuck, man, what do you want me to say? Nothing’s changed. When I’m with you guys everything’s great, but sooner or later I have to go back to reality, and… things aren’t so good there.”

“Okay, but what are we supposed to do with that?” Evan sounds frustrated.

“What are you supposed to do? How the fuck should I know? I mean, if I knew, I’d just do it myself, right?” Dan’s a bit frustrated too. “I mean, maybe there’s nothing
to
do. Maybe this is one of those things that’s great in principle or that works under laboratory conditions, but just doesn’t transfer to reality.”

Jeff steps in. “Maybe we just need to focus on the positives. Things work when we’re together. That’s great, right?” He looks from Evan to Dan, and they both nod in cautious agreement. “So… Evan’s plan is insane, but maybe it’s not wrong. Let’s just spend a lot more time together. Let’s make this”—and he gestures toward the three of them—“as strong as we can before we expose it to the outside world.” He frowns a little. “It’s going to be a bit tricky, I guess, especially this weekend—Evan’s got guests, and so do I….”

Evan jumps in. “My guests weren’t invited. They can entertain themselves, and they can do it in some way that
doesn’t
involve harassing Dan.”

Jeff smiles at his vehemence. “And my mother says she’s prepared for me to be busy, and that she’s fine on her own, but I should spend at least some time with her.” He looks thoughtfully at Evan. “We could try to figure out shifts, so that I’m with Dan when you’re with your friends, and then trade off….”

“Okay, wait.” Dan thinks it’s time to clear this up. “You started off sounding fairly normal—spending time together, okay, we can try that. But you’ve slipped into psycho-Evan-land now. You aren’t going to figure out fucking shifts, that’s insane! I can and will be by myself sometimes.” He looks from one to the other. “There will be no
shifts
.”

The other two exchange glances. “Okay, maybe ‘shifts’ isn’t the right word,” Evan tries.

“It’s not the right
idea
, you freak!” Dan’s laughing a little now. He can’t help it. “Okay, let’s just stick with the simple version of the plan. I chill out, you chill out, we spend some time together but don’t push it on spreading the relationship outside of our little bubble. S’all right?”

“Is that enough?” Jeff asks. “I mean, I wasn’t there, but… Evan was pretty freaked out by whatever you said earlier. Is this going to be enough to keep that from happening again?”

Dan rubs his neck. “I don’t know. But I’m gonna kill one or both of you if you try to keep me from ever having any time to myself, you know? So at least this has a chance of working without bloodshed.” He looks over at Evan sheepishly. “I’m sorry about earlier. I mean, I meant it at the time. And I still… I don’t know, I still sort of mean it.”

Evan’s nod is slow and pensive. “Yeah, that’s why… okay, yeah, twenty-four/seven coverage might be a little extreme, but I’m not kidding about you not doing well on your own.”

Jeff breaks in before they can restart the argument. “Dan, I don’t have much to go on, but… you and Justin. From the sound of things at the funeral, he came on pretty strong at the start, and you had some doubts. But you guys got past that, right?” Evan shoots Jeff a look as if he doesn’t think it’s a good idea to bring up Justin, but Dan’s actually okay with it. He and Justin
had
gotten past this crap, and Dan wants to remember every good thing about that relationship that he can, wants to remind himself to hang on to every lesson he learned.

“Yeah, we did.” He takes a long pull from his glass and passes it over when Evan twists the bottle open for a refill. “I don’t know… I don’t think
I
did a damn thing. I just… I guess I just didn’t run. He… Jesus.” Dan thinks for a long second, and then reaches for his cell phone before he remembers that it doesn’t have a charge. “Can I borrow someone’s phone for a second?”

Evan looks a little startled but he hands his over, and Dan has to struggle with his memory for a second. He’s so used to speed dial. Finally, he figures the number out, and dials. It’s the middle of the night, so Chris must have been asleep, but his voice is alert and clear, although he does sound a bit more formal than usual. He must not recognize the number on the call display.

“Dude, did Justin have some sort of battle plan back when we were starting?”

There’s a pause. “Hi, Dan, it’s good to hear from you. No, really, any time, day or night, just give me a call. Yeah, things are going well here.”

“Yeah, sorry about the time, great that things are going well for you. Did Justin try to keep me from ever being on my own?” Dan refuses to look at Jeff and Evan until he’s gotten to the bottom of this.

There’s another pause. “Can I ask why you’re asking?” “You can ask whatever you want to after you answer the question. Did he?”

“Uh… okay, I think ‘battle plan’ is a little strong… but he may have… noticed?… that you were pretty happy about the relationship when you were with him, and that you sort of… faded out?… when you weren’t.”

“So all that crap about moving in together right away and working together… he was just trying to keep me from bolting?”

“No! I mean, he was trying to keep you from bolting, but he moved in with you because he wanted to live with you. It’s kinda circular, really. He loved you, so he wanted to be with you, and he loved you and wanted you to not bolt so he wanted to be with you….” Chris pauses. “Okay, that’s not really a circle. But you get the idea.”

“Jesus.” Dan doesn’t think of himself as someone who follows a lot of patterns in his life, but it seems like this might be one. Chris sounds a little concerned. “Dan? What’s going on out there?”

“Nothing! Well, not nothing. Lots. Just… still working on the Jeff and Evan thing, and, you know, they seem to think it would be a good idea if I didn’t spend a lot of time on my own….”

Chris laughs. “They’re figuring you out, Danny! Better be careful; knowledge is power. But, hey, it could be good. Justin was kind of running off his feet trying to keep up with you. Two of them could be just what’s needed. Maybe they could set up a schedule, have shifts….”

“You bastard, did they call you?” Dan almost hisses. “What? No, why?”

“Nevermind. I’ll call you tomorrow.” Dan hangs up the phone and turns to see both Evan and Jeff looking at him curiously. He’s more than happy when the toaster oven buzzes and Jeff goes over to check on the bread. He pulls them out and leaves them on the counter to cool a bit and then turns and looks at Dan again.

“So?” Jeff inquires. “Sounds like Justin had a similar strategy?” Dan nods reluctantly. “Sounds like maybe.”

Evan’s not quite satisfied with that. “Why’d you think we called him?”

 

“Hmm? Hey, is that bread ready? I’m still hungry.”

 

Evan smirks a little as Jeff finds plates. “Dude, you used my phone—I’ll hit redial if I have to. Why did you think we called him?”

Jeff has paused in his dishing up, apparently also interested in the answer. Dan frowns a little bit, looks at the floor then up at Evan. “The fucker said you should set up a schedule and have shifts. All right? Is that what you wanted to hear?”

Apparently goofy dances are a Kaminski tradition, and Dan has to really work not to smile at Evan’s victory celebration. He makes it until he looks over at Jeff, who is manfully trying to keep a straight face, focusing on cutting the cheese bread into totally precise triangles. He looks up and sees Dan watching, and the corners of his mouth twitch a little. He slips the bread onto a plate and puts in on the counter, then walks around behind Dan and hugs him from behind. They watch the rest of Evan’s celebration together.

Chapter 8

B
Y THE
time Evan is calm enough to eat, the bread has cooled down enough to be edible. Evan manages to stop smirking by filling his mouth with food, and they eat companionably for a minute or two. Then Dan decides to get a few more things sorted out.

“Okay, so… we’re gonna spend time together—but you two
and
Chris can go fuck yourselves, there’s not gonna be shifts—and we’re not gonna go public anytime soon. But, uh… is the twosome thing okay? And what are the rules about other people?”

Jeff glances over at Evan and then grins a little. “If we’re spending this much time with you, we’re really not going to have any
energy
for anyone else.”

Dan shakes his head. “No, we’re not spending
that
much time together. I’m still gonna work, and you’re both still gonna work, and honestly, it probably wouldn’t kill me to make some actual friends out here, other than the people at the barn.”

Evan looks a little concerned about that. “Well, where would you make friends?”

 

“I don’t know. Some of Ryan’s friends were cool; I could give them a call, maybe….”

 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Evan objects.

“Well, that’s not gonna be your call,” Dan responds. “You’ve got an ex-girlfriend staying at your damn house. You don’t get to tell me I can’t hang out with people that I met through I guy I barely dated. No.”

Evan looks chastised, but he regroups. “But wouldn’t it be better if we could all
share
some friends? I mean, we don’t want to have three separate groups of people to try to spend time with….”

“From what I’ve seen of your friends, they’re all yours, man.” Dan shakes his head. “And, honestly, do you ever see this going that direction? I mean, are we ever going to have to worry about spending time with each other’s friends?” He looks at Evan. “You’re in the public eye, man, and like it or not, your reputation matters to your business. Being involved with
one
guy is bad enough. What are people gonna say if they find out you’re involved with two?”

Jeff frowns at him. “So how do you see this playing out?”

“Well, I don’t know. I mean, that’s one of the problems I’ve got. I figure it’s gotta stay you two as the public couple. And then… I don’t know, I just….” He looks around the guest house. “I just hang out here, like a genie in a bottle. I don’t know.”

“That’s really not how we saw it,” Jeff says, sounding concerned.

“Yeah, okay, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t make sense. And, honestly, I’m sure all of your friends are great people or whatever, but I’ve met some from both sides, and there’s no one there I’m really
dying
to see again. So… I don’t mind not having to hang out with them and make small talk and pretend to be interested. It’s really not a hardship for me to not be included in that part of your lives.”

“So, what, we’re just sex?” Evan sounds a little upset. “No. Sex and hanging out and… I don’t know, eating?” “Fuck buddies?” Evan practically spits.

Jeff looks back and forth between them. “Okay, I think we’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves. We can negotiate all this stuff later, when we see how things are going. For now, are you guys good with… ‘twosomes are fine, as long as the third is always welcome’? And Dan, both Evan and I would like to try it with just the three of us. Does that work for you?”

He hesitates. It’s a big step (a logical step, Puppet-Chris whispers, and Dan has to agree) for Evan and Jeff to take with each other, but it’s a fucking
huge
step for Dan to take with two guys he barely knows. Who are already pretty seriously involved. So recently after the end of his last relationship.

Evan and Jeff are looking at him a bit apprehensively; he tries to smile. “Yeah. Okay, but… you know, I’m not promising anything. There are still some serious… issues… with this working out to be something that’s gonna last for any length of time. If I meet somebody that I think I could be good with… I mean, I promise that I’ll let you know, I won’t sneak around or whatever, but… you know….”

Evan stares at him. “Seriously? That’s… that’s the level of commitment you’re giving this? I mean… we’re okay until something better comes along? You’re doing us the fucking
favor
of letting us jump through all these goddamn hoops and put up with all your crap? Seriously, man?” He looks over at Jeff, as if looking for support.

Dan hadn’t meant it that way, but when he thinks about it, he can see where Evan’s coming from. “Shit, no! I mean… I don’t mean that I’m… fuck.” Now he’s the one looking to Jeff for help, but Jeff isn’t really looking back. “I just… okay, yeah, that was a shitty thing to say. I’m sorry.”