Stories Beneath Our Skin (12 page)

"
That's tough." For the first time, Liam felt their age difference keenly. Usually Goose was so lighthearted that the extra decade of mileage didn't mean much.

"
I figure it happened for a reason." Goose picked up one of the small wooden gnomes that littered the room and let it trip through his fingers. "Ace got back not long after. We'd been friends in high school, lost touch when I got married, but I ran into him a few times and we got to be close again. He kept talking about opening a place up and that I should get back into the swing of things. We wound up picking up a few hours together at a place in the city. Could have knocked me over with a feather when he showed me this space two years later and said it was his. Never figured he'd put it all together so quickly. Course, it looked like a wreck then. We put up all the walls and stuff ourselves."

"
I never would have guessed," Liam said politely. It explained a lot about the plywood walls.

"
Smart ass." Goose dropped the gnome into his lap, its pointed hat resting on his thigh. "Moral of the story, now I work for one of my best friends, doing a job I really like. I figure it all mostly worked itself out. Meant to be."

"
Then don't you think that whatever happens with you and Frankie is meant to be, too?" Liam asked.

"
Don't go turning my words on me. I'm on to you."

"
Sorry." Liam bit his lip. "But still. You can't believe in fate for one thing but not for another."

"
Is that written in a book of rules somewhere?" Goose shook his head. "You gotta allow some wiggle room in the things you believe, or they'll choke you to death. Anyway, Frankie and me... we're not star-crossed or anything. I just really like the girl, you know? She's awesome."

"
She is." Liam couldn't help but agree. "But so are you. Could be a good match if you give her a shot to talk."

"
No need to butter me up. I'm not the one that signs the checks." Goose's smile finally made a real return.

"
Just telling it like it is." Liam smiled back.

Not fifteen minutes later, Deb was tossing paperclips at Goose while he serenaded her with
"Brown Eyed Girl" complete with terrible air guitar. When he belted out his chorus with his eyes closed, Deb gave Liam a discreet thumbs up.

"
What the hell is going on in here?" Ace emerged from the hall, already halfway to a laugh.

"
Do you remember when?
" Goose sunk to his knees, face tilted up beseechingly to Ace. "
We used to sing!
"

"
Sha la la la la la." Ace said as flatly as possible.

"
La de da!" Goose grinned and the world was right side up again.

Around eleven, Deb flipped the sign to closed.

"Got no other appointments, and we all need to get some shut eye if we're gonna report in so early."

"
We gonna carpool it?" Goose asked, already yawning hugely.

"
Nah. Don't need you until lunch so you can man the table while we get some food in us." Ace juggled his car keys. "Deb got roped into helping with the raffle, so doubt we'll see her most of the day."

"
Awesome, see you boys at noon." Goose waved and swung himself into his car.

"
How come he gets to sleep in?" Deb complained.

"
You ever dealt with him when he hasn't slept? It's like a baby horse that hasn't figured out how to walk yet. Hilarious for only the first few minutes." Ace watched Goose pull away. "Besides, he could use a break."

"
Yeah." Deb sighed, leaned in and to Liam's surprise, she brushed a kiss over Ace's cheek. "Night, boss."

"
Night, Deb." He shoved at her gently.

"
I missed something, didn't I?" Liam asked the open air.

"
No." Ace laughed. "Just... we take care of each other. Guess it doesn't always seem that way when you see it from the outside. C'mon, Professor. Let's head home."

Liam followed Ace
's car all the way back to the house. Back home.

Chapter Nine

Liam didn
't even bother going to bed that night. He could feel the buzz of insomnia under his skin and settled in on the couch for the long haul. There was a surprise doze around three a.m. that carried him until six when the front door rattled on its hinges. Head pounding, he stumbled into the bathroom and took a long shower.

The day was already heating up, the steam in the bathroom mingling with the gathering atmospheric pressure. It was thunderstorm weather, the air holding tense and ready. It would be hours yet until it broke, but when it came down, it would pelt down hard and fast. Liam tucked an umbrella into his messenger bag, along with a case of pencils and the heavy paper he
'd use for the portraits.

When he wandered into the kitchen, Ace came back inside
, breathing heavy and sweating hard. He was wearing running shorts that showed off the thick muscles of his thighs and the green tattoos that wrapped around them. For the first time, Liam could see that they were intricate Celtic knots in four shades of green and a thin red outline. It was delicate work, precise and undeniably sexy.

"
It's hot as balls out there." Ace drew off his t-shirt and used it to wipe the sweat from his face. Liam dug his nails into the meat of his palms.

No wonder Frankie had thought Ace
's shirtless body would be excellent advertising. The script that always peeked out of Ace's collar was part of massive chest piece.
Too weird to live, too rare to die
sprawled over his left pectoral in rounded letters that melted into vortex of surrealistic color, fat just under the words and thinning across his flat stomach to come to a point at his right hip.

"
That's from a movie," Liam said, then wished he'd kept quiet when Ace dropped his shirt to pin him with a hard look.

"
Yeah.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
." One finger traced the looping
w
. "First thing I got done when I bought the shop. Goose did it."

"
I can tell," Liam choked out. "Distinctive coloring. Um. Breakfast?"

"
Nah. I'll just grab a banana. We need to get going, and I still have to shower." A smile quirked at one side of Ace's mouth. "If you blush any harder, you'll faint from the blood rush."

"
Fuck." Liam covered his eyes.

"
Hey." Strong fingers looped around his wrist, pried his hand away. Ace was close. As close as he'd been that first day, breath on the back of Liam's neck. Liam swallowed hard. "It's cool, okay?"

"
I'm pretty sure nothing about me is cool right now," Liam mumbled, wishing for an earthquake or a hurricane or spontaneous combustion to put an end to his misery.

"
Normal reaction. I am very pretty, you know." Ace batted his eyes and maybe it was meant to be funny, but all Liam saw was those bright blue irises and the long sweep of pale lashes.

"
I'd noticed." Liam took a step back, but Ace didn't relinquish his wrist, and he couldn't pull away without making it into a scene.

"
It'd be a bad idea. You and me. You know that, right?" Ace said seriously.

"
Yeah." Liam took in a long breath and let it out slowly. "You're my boss."

"
And nine years older than you and living in your house. You're totally emotionally fucked up right now and clearly have more baggage than I can carry, and one day soon, you're going to go back to school across the country." Ace still didn't let go. "And I've got a kid to worry about."

Liam just nodded dully. All of that and more ran through Liam
's head every time he looked too long at Ace, every time his heart picked up its pace around him.

"
It's a damn good thing you're so tall." Ace released Liam's wrist in stages, more of a caress than a departure. "'Cause I'd kiss you before I could remember all that if I wouldn't have to get up on my tiptoes to do it."

"
Wait, what?" Liam asked, but he was talking to open air. Ace had already slipped away, the shower starting up seconds later.

That Ace might return his interest hadn
't even occurred to Liam, despite the rare instances of subtle flirtation. He wasn't sure if the knowledge made the whole thing better or worse. On the one hand, it was flattering. On the other, it was dangerous. It gave Liam hope. He knew the giddy feeling rising in him against all advisement, and there was nothing he could do to squash it back down into its box.

Mindlessly, he cleaned the kitchen counters to give his hands something to do. He might have broken out the bleach and started in on the floors if Ace hadn
't reemerged, fully dressed and all business.

"
Chop, chop, Professor. We've got places to be."

"
Right." Liam picked up his bag and tried to get his head on straight.

"
You're driving. I'll wind up giving the finger to soccer moms if I try to find a space in town."

Ace seemed intent on acting as though nothing had passed between them. He put his feet up on the dash when they got in the car and made idle conversation about the equipment he
'd been eyeballing in a new catalog.

"
They do some good custom work, too." He mused as Liam got cut off by his second minivan.

"
Goddamnit!" he swore, swerving to avoid certain death. "What is wrong with these people?"

"
Warned you about the soccer moms."

"
Are they giving away china dolls or something? Fuck." Liam jammed on the breaks. His car shuddered.

"
Use your rage, young Skywalker." Ace laughed.

"
If I could get a parking space with the Force, we would've gotten out of the car ten minutes ago."

"
Oh, hey there!" Ace pointed out a small space. "Think you can get this thing in there?"

"
Watch and learn." Liam cracked his knuckles.

"
Sound pretty cocky there."

"
I am the parallel parking master." He went quiet, concentrating. Pulling back, he tucked his arm behind Ace's seat, masterfully ignoring the enforced intimacy.

It only took him three sharp turns and one extra twist of the wheel to wedge his car in.

"Am I too far from the curb?" he asked mildly.

"
Jesus." Ace popped the door open. "You're like an inch away. How the hell did you manage that?"

"
I'm good with tight spaces." He grabbed his messenger bag.

"
I'll just bet," Ace muttered darkly.

"
Hm?" Liam adjusted the strap, counting the crack in Ace's
everything's normal
facade as a win.

"
Nothing. Brat. We're setting up this way."

The street fair took place not on the busy state route where the bulk of what could arguably be called
"town" existed. Instead it took advantage of the one vaguely historical stretch of cobblestone that a few older buildings clustered around. A lot of vendors had begun to set up elaborate tented areas. Ace lead them further down the street to what must have been the cheaper spaces. The setups got simpler, folding tables with faded cloth thrown over them.

"
There you are!" Frankie ran up to them, waving a clipboard threateningly. Her sundress was an eye-searing neon green that flared out around her knees. "You guys are like the last people here."

"
It's still fifteen minutes before opening." Ace sighed. "Not like we have much to do anyway."

"
Thank God for Deb. She got here at dawn, laid out all the tape for the booths for me." Frankie blew upwards, sending her bangs dancing. "She brought the shop banner, your glossies, and the flash books. You should give that woman a raise."

"
She pay you to tell me that?" The banner was indeed already pinned to the table. Someone must've spilled coffee on the banner once, a murky brown stain lingering in the top right corner.

"
Didn't have to this time around." Frankie shrugged. "Do you guys need anything else?"

"
No, we're good."

"
Awesome. If you need anything, there's an information tent at the other end of the street. I'll be there when I can, but Carlos will be manning it the rest of the time and he knows everything about everything. Food trucks are already cranking up if you want something to wake you up." She bounced on black sneakers with laces that matched her dress. "Remember, no swearing, spitting, or being an asshole."

"
Why are you only looking at me?" Ace raised an eyebrow.

"
Because Liam here is a gentleman." She laughed, leaning in to brush imaginary lint from Liam's shoulder. He hadn't realized until that moment that they were the exact same height. "Keep him in line, sugar. See you later!"

And then she was off, dress flapping behind her like a cape.

"Goose thinks she's going to break up with him."

"
I am not gossiping with you like a teenage girl." Ace pulled the postcards out of the box, counting them out into even piles.

"
You want to though." Maybe it was the morning confession, the oppressive heat of the morning, or Frankie's infectious energy, but Liam felt playful. "Come on. You want to know what I know."

"
No, I don't." Ace ducked his head, hiding a smile. "Because you know nothing I don't know."

"
I bet I do."

"
Bet that you don't."

"
She left him a voicemail," Liam taunted, taking out the heavy paper and his pencils.

"
So?"

"
So, he was worried about it."

"
Goose doesn't worry about shit." Ace snorted. "Things don't stick to him long enough to induce worry."

"
You swore already, man. No wonder Frankie wants me monitoring you." He'd have to lean the pad on his knees to sketch, but at least there was a stool for the customers to sit on. "Anyway, plenty of things stick with him. The store. You. Frankie, apparently."

"
I'll swear as much as I damn well want to. Not like there's anyone around to get pissed about it yet. Unless I'm burning your ears?"

"
Yeah. You're offending my delicate sensibilities, asshole."

"
Rough word there. Nickel for the swear jar?" Ace waggled a finger at him.

"
If we kept a swear jar in the shop, we'd have enough for all the shiny toys you want within a month."

"
And go bankrupt in the process." Ace shook his head. "Guess we can call setup complete. I'm going to get a cup of coffee. Want me to see if I can shake a cup of tea out of them?"

"
A Coke would be better. It's too hot for boiling water."

By the time Ace made it back, the crowd had already begun to trickle in.

"I had no idea it would be this crowded. Where did all these people even come from?" Liam took his soda, popping the tab just enough to let a hiss of air through.

"
Apparently the draw of wicker baskets calls to everyone." Ace tucked one leg under the other as he sat, stealing a piece of paper and a green pencil from the supplies. "Also, they're worried it might start raining, according to the dreamcatcher seller by the Greek food cart. So probably everyone came in early."

"
I made one of those in grade school. My eyes went cross winding the string everywhere. Isn't it supposed to stop nightmares?"

"
Damned if I know." Ace sliced a line over the page, the first unsteady foundation of a building.

"
Hi." A sullen teenage girl with dyed black hair and too much eyeliner stopped in front of them.

"
Hello." Liam returned the smile tentatively.

"
Oh, look at this Marie!" A woman with long blonde hair and painted on eyebrows gestured frantically at the girl from the next stall. "It's that homemade soap I loved last year!"

"
I see it, Mom!" The teenager yelled back, then gave Liam a wide-eyed look. "How long can you take to draw a portrait?"

"
Half hour at least." Ace jumped in. "An hour if you want to tip generously."

Marie brightened considerably after her mother set down forty dollars with a reluctant frown then disappeared into the swelling mass of chattering humanity. She was a good subject, staying mostly still, except to ask a question or two. Liam was dimly aware of Ace talking with a few other booth visitors, their stack of cards diminishing slowly.

"This looks killer," Marie announced when Liam slipped her the portrait. He'd gone in for heavy dark colors, giving her more of the goth pixie look she seemed to be going for. "Thanks for the save! I'm totally going to get a tat done as soon as I turn eighteen."