The Sextet Presents... Bound by Voodoo [Legends] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (7 page)

Following the sidewalk, Winston was quiet long enough that Barrett wasn’t sure he was going to answer any of the questions. “Miles and I both like her, but we agreed not to pursue more than friendship with her to avoid the awkward problems of breakups and jealousy, that kind of stuff. You put a new twist in the dynamics.”

“If it helps, I’m not interested in a casual fling. I’ve liked her for a long time, and seeing her again after all these years…This seems like the right time to find out if she’s the girl I want to get serious with.”

Winston nodded as he entered the pub, holding the door open for Winston. He aimed for a table in the corner. “I’m thinking of selling.”

The waitress interrupted Barrett’s opportunity at an immediate response. “What can I get you to drink?”

Holding up two fingers, Winston ordered. “I’ll have a draft. That okay, Barrett?”

“Sure.” Barrett waited for the server to head to the bar before he picked up where they’d left off. “Because of me, or because you’re planning to ask out Rory?”

“Not really. It’s more complicated than that.” Propping his elbows on the table, Winston blew out a noisy sigh. “I don’t want to go into details, but I can’t live there anymore.”

A dozen possible explanations ran through Barrett’s head. “If it isn’t me or Rory, then it must be Miles. Did he decide to make a move on her?”

“No. Oh, I don’t know.” Winston was silent as their beers were delivered. “Can I get a burger, medium well, cheese, everything but onions? Fries.”

Going for simple, Barrett opted for the same. “Make it two.”

The waitress jotted down their orders and then headed across the nearly empty room.

“Look, I’d rather you didn’t tell Rory, but I’m moving out because of Miles. He isn’t the person I thought he was, and I need out.” Winston’s knuckles turned white as he clasped his hands together, telling Barrett the problem was bigger than a simple misunderstanding.

“I thought you guys were friends. You sure ganged up on me together last night.”
Okay,
really
bad choice of words.
“You both gave me hell over Rory. If he’s a jerk, then don’t you think I deserve to know?”

Winston mumbled something unintelligible under his breath. “I doubt you have anything to worry about.”

Tipping up the frosty mug, Barrett drank a hefty swallow of beer. Something major had happened between the time he and Rory had left Winston’s apartment after the poker game and when he got invited to lunch. “How can you be sure?”

Rubbing his temples, Winston closed his eyes for several seconds. He lowered his voice to a hair above a whisper. “Unless you bat from both sides of the plate, you have nothing to worry about.”

Both sides of the plate? Like a switch hitter?

Did he mean what Barrett thought he meant, or had the image in the shower made the subject stick in his mind? He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I mean.” Winston drained a third of his drink in one pull.

Miles was bisexual? Had he come on to Winston? After eight months of living and working in the same building with each other, how had Winston not realized his neighbor liked men in addition to women? Rory’s question about recognizing if a guy was straight or gay came roaring forward. “Wait a minute. You guys have been…you know, together? You’re both bi, and he dumped you?”

Pushing back in his chair, Winston looked up toward the ceiling. “Fuck! How the hell did you get all that out of the baseball euphemism?”

Barrett’s insides twisted into knots. Either he’d hit the nail square on the head or he’d jumped to an asinine conclusion, and both possibilities had consequences he didn’t want to deal with. He shrugged, unsure how to respond.

Winston leaned forward, resting his elbows on the edge of the table. “Damn, I bet Rory’s figured it out by now too. Facing her every day will be harder than admitting the truth. I’m meeting with the real estate agent Monday evening to put my part of the co-op on the market.”

The waitress strode toward them, the tray of food perched on her shoulder. She set their lunch in front of them. “Two burgers and fries. Need anything else?”

Ready to dig in to his lunch and avoid more conversation about being bisexual, Barrett shook his head. “Looks good. Thanks.”

Before she’d taken three steps toward the bar, he and Winston had both stuffed their burgers into their mouths. A dozen questions begged to be asked, but Barrett had no intention of confiding in anyone about his sexuality—especially a man he’d fantasized about. Knowing how long Winston had openly acknowledged his attraction to men wouldn’t help Barrett. He wasn’t ready to talk about it. Besides, he had his sights set on Rory, and being with her meant he’d never have to figure out the workings of a male-male relationship.

Other than a few generic observations about the quality of the food, they ate in silence. They lingered over a refill of their drinks, and Winston immediately picked up the paper when the waitress finally brought the check.

“I owe you, Barrett.” He dropped several bills on the table as he rose. Leading the way outside, he headed back toward the co-op. “A lot of people would’ve gotten up and walked out after finding out what I am.”

That statement reinforced Barrett’s decision to keep quiet. “You’re a person. Who you want to have sex with is none of my business.”

Instead of turning left to follow the sidewalk to the entrance to their building, Winston continued straight ahead. “Too bad everybody doesn’t have that attitude. Miles won’t take shit from anybody about his lifestyle. But then, he’s always known and accepted being bi. I’m not there yet. Hell, you and Miles are the only people I’ve ever told, and now Miles is using me. He keeps saying he doesn’t want Rory to know about us. I think it’s just an excuse.”

Barrett’s chest tightened, a mix of panic, relief, and empathy swimming in his head. His first instinct was to invite Winston to his apartment. If Barrett had someone to talk to about his conflicting emotions, he might be able to come to terms with his gay side. Never having discussed the topic with anyone, he had no idea what was normal.

Turning onto a side street, Winston shoved his fingers through his hair. “Okay, I’m going to go out a limb here and ask you a question. I don’t want to offend you, but…I’m getting some strange vibes. And if you don’t want to answer, that’s fine.” He paused, facing Barrett. “Are you bisexual? Obviously, you’re not gay since you like Rory.”

Every bit of oxygen evaporated from Barrett’s lungs. Could the guy tell his sexual orientation by looking at him? Did his speech patterns or his body movements and gestures give away the truth? An athletic build and masculine facial features hardly hinted at less than straight, did they?

Winston began walking again. “Like I said, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

The urge to confess nearly drowned Barrett. How many times in his life would he get the opportunity to have an honest discussion about being a man who could love another man as easily as a woman?
Once? Twice?

Lengthening his stride to catch up with Winston, Barrett waited until they were side by side to speak. “Yeah. I’m not really comfortable with it.”

“A newbie. Welcome to the club.” Winston changed direction, crossing the street and taking them closer to home. “More like welcome to where-the-hell-do-I-fit-in. I’ll let you know when I figure it out. It could be a few years before I know.”

“Miles was your first experience on the dark side?” Making light of the subject eased some of tension in Barrett’s neck and shoulders. “I haven’t…yet.”

“I kind of guessed as much. Right now, I’m sorry to say I’ve slept with Miles, but he was the first. Maybe the last for a while.”

“What happened? If you don’t mind talking about it.”

They strolled across their parking lot, and Winston punched in the security code to enter the building. “A piece of advice. When somebody tells you they want a casual relationship, that means they want sex without a commitment—whether guy-girl or guy-guy. Prepare to be used if you say yes.” He pulled open the door. “You want to come up to my apartment? I think you need an introduction to GLBT class.”

Scuttling up the stairs, Winston only half expected Barrett to follow. The software genius was more likely to hide in his office than talk about being bisexual. He’d barely been able to admit it. Using the term “dark side” and saying “yet” at the end of his sentence probably meant he had no plans to fuck or get fucked by another man. Admission wasn’t acceptance.

Footsteps sounded behind Winston, and he rounded the landing to the second floor. At his door, he fished his keys from his jeans pocket and unlocked the apartment. “Have a seat. I’ll get the hard liquor.”

He aimed for the kitchen, leaving his guest to close the door and make himself comfortable—or as comfortable as he could be, considering the upcoming discussion. Grabbing a pair of shot glasses and the unopened bottle of Scotch he’d been saving for a special occasion, he returned to the living room.

With the drinks set up on the coffee table, he sat diagonally across from Barrett on the couch. “Down the hatch.”

Instead of tossing back a single shot, Barrett tipped up one after the other. He sucked in a long, shaky breath. “Sorry, but I think I need to get shitfaced to do this.”

Winston screwed the cap on the bottle. “I’m cutting you off. We’ll just have to have the same conversation over again if you’re too wasted to remember what I tell you.”

“I don’t want to remember.” Barrett buried his face in his hands. “If I live happily ever after with Rory, I don’t need to know anything about it.”

“Except you won’t live happily ever after with her by denying who you are. You’ll always wonder whether you should’ve found out more about the ‘dark side.’” Leaning back on the couch, Winston considered taking a swig of Scotch straight from the bottle. He was no more than a few steps beyond Barrett’s position regarding his sexual orientation. “I’m not saying you have to get laid by a man to find happiness with a woman. But love is love, and we don’t usually have much control over who we fall for.”

Pushing up from the chair, Barrett stomped to the door, his hand hovering on the doorknob. Tension rolled off him in waves. “I’m not in love with a guy. I’m in love with Rory.”

“Yeah, well, I’m in love with Rory and Miles,
and
I’m attracted to you.” The two beers had loosened Winston’s tight rein on his mouth.

Barrett swung around at the accidental confession, his panic evident in the quick meeting of Winston’s eyes and then a faster glance away. “Fuck.”

Too late to take back the truth.

Winston could only laugh. “You got that right. I’m screwed every which direction.”

Color reddened Barrett’s neck, and his grip on the doorknob tightened. He looked ready to flee the state.

Hope bloomed in Winston’s chest. That kind of reaction had to mean the attraction was mutual, and maybe getting dumped by Miles wasn’t the worst thing that could’ve happened. “Sit down. I’m not going to jump your bones.”

“Unless I want you to, right?” That Barrett could joke about the dilemma suggested he might not be in full flight mode. He walked to the chair but didn’t sit. “I thought I was okay with being bisexual, but this whole thing—lunch with you, this discussion…It’s too flipping weird. I’ve never had a guy tell me he was attracted to me.”

Winston grinned. “I didn’t exactly plan on doing that. I figured we’d talk about how to deal with wanting pussy
and
cock instead of one or the other. The part that gets to me is fantasizing about having both.”

His guest’s jaw twitched. “I doubt many women would agree to let her boyfriend or husband have a boyfriend on the side. Fidelity is important to females.”

Opening the bottle, Winston poured himself a shot of Scotch. It went down smooth and warmed his insides. “The question is whether she’ll agree to share the boyfriend. Two bisexual men and one straight woman. Everybody wins.”

Barrett reached for the second shot glass, his hand shaking as he picked it up. Did he have the same fantasy? After the refill, he threw back the drink. “Why stop there? How about
three
guys and a girl?”

A picture formed in Winston’s head in an instant. It was the same image he’d had during dinner with Barrett last week. “Holy shit. You want to have a foursome with Rory, Miles, and me. If Miles wasn’t being such a prick, I’d ask him if he wanted to approach her with us. Considering some of the clients I see going in her office, I bet we wouldn’t even have to talk her into it. The woman’s mind is wide open.”

“I thought you didn’t want her know about you and Miles?” Barrett rounded the chair and sat. “And I’m not sure I’d want my first guy-on-guy experience to happen in front of Rory.”

“Miles left last night with hardly a good-bye before my cock went limp. We’re done. There’s nothing to tell now.” Setting aside the Scotch, Winston pulled in a slow inhale to slow his dick’s response to the idea that popped into his head. A golden opportunity had landed in his lap, but did he have the balls to take it?

Pass up this chance? Not on your life.

“Drop your pants. I want to give you a blow job.”