Chapter Two
Slayer’s Brush filled up quickly, much to Dylan’s dismay. Sure, a packed event meant a great fundraiser; however, the cramped guests quickly turned sour as they bumped elbows with others in attendance. Kaiden couldn’t let such a pretty face frown the entire night, so he set out to find his boss.
Alison wore a tight red dress, stealing focus from the artwork as she talked up the venue.
She was a big, busty, bold woman who rarely took the sidelines.
It was what kept her expensive art boutique in high demand.
Unlike Kaiden, who sucked in a sharp breath at the pinch of his corset vest, Alison didn’t care about tightening her waist or hiding her gut.
She was a very curvy woman with long blonde hair down to her waist.
“Pardon me.” Kaiden squeezed through the small crowd, smiling because pretense mattered to Alison more than anything.
Times were always good, even when they were terrible.
“What do you need, darling?” Alison asked, smiling.
Oh, damn. He’d already gotten a darling. She must’ve been in a mood.
“Things are a little tight here.” Kaiden rolled his green eyes around the venue, discreetly nodding. “I was thinking since the back room is a bit bare, we could—”
“Absolutely impossible.” Alison held up a hand. “People come here for elegance, not messy storage rooms.”
“People also come here to breathe in art and mystique.” Kaiden brushed up against his boss, letting his chest hit hers. “Elegance is lost when we’re bumping butts.”
Alison glowered, her blue eyes appearing all the icier.
“Unless it’s the fun kind of butt bumping.” Kaiden winked. “Come on, we throw a few decorations up, make it an exclusive tonight-only experience. Behind the scenes. Sneak peek at some upcoming events. Artists no one else has had the privilege to view.”
Alison’s frown softened, considering. She was a smart woman, smarter than Kaiden, so he knew not to play her so much as play to her ego. If he could convince her this was her idea, she’d gladly take the credit and toss in a few more ideas to turn the makeshift extra space into a success.
“Fine. There’s a few pieces in my office,” Alison said. “Carefully put them up and make sure the back room is actually clean.”
“Will do.” Kaiden gave her a tiny salute, much to Alison’s annoyance.
With that settled, Kaiden took off to Alison’s office to find a few suitable pieces to put on display.
Grabbing two smaller portraits, he made his way down a hallway leading to the back alley of the art boutique.
If he cut through the crowd to the storage room, he’d never hear the end of it from Alison.
Outside, plastered against the wall, was Rus, who wore a wrinkled dress shirt, baggy slacks, and scuffed dress shoes.
Christ, he was a rough sight. Smoke trickled from his mouth, almost artistically, creating a landscape silhouette.
Well, at least that was what Kaiden envisioned, seeing mountains with each puff Rus took from his cigarette.
The stench of the smoke nearly gagged Kaiden; he could never grasp why anyone in this day and age would smoke cigarettes, especially when there were much nicer alternatives. The blueberry-flavored vape in his pocket weighed all the heavier as he considered pausing for a puff or two of his own.
Sadly, the buzz of his phone drew him to his other pocket.
Ugh. His sister was calling him yet again.
He sent her to voicemail. Hopefully, she’d check her texts and realize Kaiden had work.
Slayer’s Brush had a pretty routine schedule, excluding the monthly event or two, which meant Kaiden was out for the evening and unable to help around the house.
A problem for later. Right now, he focused on the fundraiser.
Kaiden approached Rus, figuring since he had hours to work off according to Dylan, he might as well get the storage room set up faster. “Hey, I need your help setting up the storage room.”
“No,” Rus said, taking a deep inhale of his cigarette.
“Um, yes.” Kaiden batted his eyes, conveying his aggravation.
“I was told I just had to show up.”
“Unless an emergency came up.” Kaiden shrugged. “And look? Here’s the emergency. Thanks, friend.”
Rus ground his teeth, shooting Kaiden a menacing glare. Too bad all Kaiden saw was an angry purse puppy when he looked down at Rus.
“Come along.” Kaiden strutted ahead, walking with a swagger in his hips, feeling a little extra confident with each step.
He hoped to maintain this vigor and pep through the evening. Dylan had pumped his ego pretty high, giving Kaiden far too much credit for suggesting Slayer’s Brush as the queer youth home’s next fundraiser venue.
All Kaiden had really done was make the suggestion, convince Alison, and rearrange her other events. And contact guests, handle decorations, and fill out the paperwork for write-offs, and… Okay, maybe Kaiden had put some heavy lifting work into this fundraiser.
Dorothy’s Home meant a lot to Dylan, and Dylan meant a lot to Kaiden. He didn’t have many friends, having lost contact with most of his circle when they went off to college, and he stayed behind to find himself. He had even fewer queer friends. In fact, he had a grand total of one—Dylan.
So, it was important to Kaiden, helping his friend, seeing him smile, and the best way to do that was by making sure this fundraiser went off without a hitch.
In order to do that, Kaiden needed to get the storage room set up as a bonus space for the venue, which would go a lot quicker with Rus’ reluctant assistance.
Kaiden quickly put Rus to work, moving things around and cleaning up where he could.
Little by little, they transformed the storage room into a modestly acceptable space for guests.
Kaiden asked Rus to discreetly steal two of the pillar-designed tables and bring them back here, considering them the final touches necessary before unveiling this room.
Guests started trickling into the storage room, taking in the modest display and enjoying the extra breathing space.
Dylan wandered their way, waving over a few of the caterers to fill up the bonus space.
“You’re brilliant,” Dylan said, giving Kaiden a quick side hug. “Thank you.”
“All Alison’s idea,” Kaiden said with a pointed look, reminding Dylan that if he suggested otherwise, she’d be offended, and as the actual host of the venue, it was wise to stay on Alison’s good side.
“How’d you get this set up so fast?” Dylan asked.
Kaiden pulled Rus by his wrinkled sleeve and gestured to the frowning man. As a peace offering, Kaiden grabbed two champagne flutes off a tray from a passing server and handed one to Rus.
“For lying about having to help me.”
Rus snatched the glass. “I fucking knew it.”
“Well, thank you both,” Dylan said, eyeing the guests continuing to funnel into the storage room and easing the pressure of the front venue space.
“No problem,” Kaiden said, raising his own glass to cheers.
“It really means a lot that you helped bring this to life,” Dylan said, and for half a second, Kaiden prepared to bashfully blush at the compliment until he realized Dylan was speaking to Rus.
Kaiden’s face twisted into a disingenuous smile, fighting off a grimace and biting back a few comments. Mostly. “So, what’re you planning on doing with all your free time now that you’re liberated from all this community service?”
“Not a whole lot.” Rus sipped his drink.
“Oh, come on.”
“Focusing on my classes,” Rus said with a snort. “I’m not that interesting.”
“Well, there’s not much to do here.” Dylan ran his fingers through his hair.
It was a nervous act of Dylan’s, something Kaiden knew for certain, but he couldn’t place the anxiety. Surely, Dylan wasn’t still struggling with the success of the fundraiser.
“There’s always Himbos,” Kaiden said with a shrug.
Rus quirked a brow, raising his eyebrow piercing. The curiosity softened his gloomy face.
“It’s the gay bar,” Kaiden explained. “Semi queer but mostly gay.”
“Meaning?” Rus asked.
“Meaning they do like Sapphic Sunday brunches and karaoke for all on Wednesday night, but they’re pushing twinks, leather, poppers, and gloryholes in everyone’s faces.”
“Plus, all the tourism,” Dylan added.
“Tourism?” Rus asked, his face looking even more confused than a second ago.
“Straight girls looking to dance and not get hit on,” Kaiden elaborated. “Straight guys looking for free drinks and easy targets from girls who just came to dance.”
Dylan nodded with an exasperated sigh. “And the annoying couples looking to show they’re adventurous.”
Kaiden chuckled. “Exactly.”
They weren’t usually adventurous. They just wanted to stare at the gays like exotic animals on display.
That was the key distinction between an ally and a tourist in Kaiden’s mind.
The number of times Kaiden had been told to ‘slay’ by a supportive drunk woman was innumerable.
Not to mention, there was always one woman who teasingly warned the gay boys not to flirt with her man, as if either of them were worth anyone’s time of day.
“Never been,” Rus replied. “It’s twenty-one and up, I think, and I only recently turned twenty-one.”
“You just turned twenty-one?” Kaiden asked, feigning shock.
“And no fake I.D.?” Dylan tsked. “A lawbreaker like you.”
Rus snorted. “You punch one douchebag and suddenly…”
Kaiden side-eyed Rus, green eyes catching the light. “I heard it was waaaay more than one.”
Rus counted on his fingers, then gave a sly smile. “Still single digits. I’m pretty sure.”
“Well, now that you’re finally all grown up, you’re going to have to check it out.”
“I’m plenty grown.”
“Uh-huh.” Kaiden nodded, mockingly, playfully, he wasn’t quite sure, but the teasing brought a grin to his face.
Rus scoffed. “And how old are you?”
“You never ask an elder gay their age.” Kaiden pressed his hands to his chest, dramatically playing offended.
“Twenty-four.” Dylan shot Kaiden a judgy look.
“Practically a baby yourself,” Rus said, then turned his hazel eyes onto Dylan. “So, that makes you the oldest?”
“Ooof.” Dylan cupped his hand over his heart. “You wound me.”
“I mean, twenty-six,” Kaiden said with a shrug. “You should be applying for gay senior citizenship pretty soon.”
“You are toxic.”
“The best boys are.” Kaiden batted his eyes, feeling feisty the more they bantered.
“Did you do anything fun?” Dylan asked, turning his attention back to Rus. “Since you just turned twenty-one.”
“Clearly not,” Kaiden said.
“Well, not just,” Rus elaborated. “My birthday’s in April but—”
“That’s like a year-ish ago,” Kaiden said with a laugh as he counted the actual number of months on his fingers between April and September.
“But,” Rus said, clearing his throat with a bit of hostility, “I sort of got into some legal trouble around then, and that pretty much blew my whole summer away. Between community service and driving all the way back home for family time—because God forbid my behavior ruin any family reunions or vacations or blah, blah, blah.”
“If you hadn’t screwed up, we might never have crossed paths.” Dylan had a coy smile.
“Himbos is pretty great.” Kaiden’s phone buzzed, and he dug into his pocket.
“Minus the tourists, right?” Rus added.
“Exactly. But even they can’t ruin the Friday night drag shows,” Kaiden said, swiping to ignore a barrage of texts from his sister. “You should check it out.”
“Yeah,” Dylan exclaimed. “Oh, I haven’t been to one of their drag shows in forever.”
Not forever. The last time he went was back in July.
Kaiden had managed to pry Dylan away from his work at Dorothy’s Home.
If not for Kaiden, Dylan would pretty much hunker down and work nonstop, relying on his phone for any and all human interactions.
Even when they hung out, Kaiden spent much of it helping around at the queer youth home, whether that meant sorting through donations or organizing fundraiser venues.
“You should go this Friday,” Kaiden suggested, taking a careful sidestep as he prepared to exit so he could message his sister and do a lap around the venue. If he enjoyed the fundraiser too much, Alison might notice.
“That’d be fun,” Rus said.
“Yeah, definitely.” Dylan grinned.
“Then again, it is a Saturday…” Rus raised his shoulders suggestively, likely testing the waters on whether anyone wanted to go.
“Remember what I said about tourism?” Kaiden made a face.
“Okay, okay, so Friday it is.” Rus dug through his pocket for his phone. “So, should we like meet at the club or like hang downtown beforehand? The food’s good there.”
“I’m pretty much down for whatever,” Dylan answered, taking Rus’ phone as he handed it to him, clearly requesting his contact info. “What do you think, Kaiden?”
“What?” Kaiden paused, staring at the two of them. “I was just making a suggestion. I wasn’t going to go.”
Scanning through his texts, Kaiden read through the increasingly aggressive messages his sister left him.
Apparently, he’d flaked on dinner for the family, even though he told everyone multiple times he wouldn’t be there because of the fundraiser.
Now, if he skipped out on a Friday in the same week, he’d never hear the end of it.
His sister usually picked up extra work on the weekends, which meant she’d need someone to watch the kids.
“What? You’d send me there by myself?” Rus placed a hand to his chest, feigning the same phony surprise Kaiden had a moment ago. It pulled Kaiden’s attention away from his phone. “What if I get snatched up by one of those hetero tourists? Do you have any idea what they do to bi boys?”
“No, what?” Dylan asked.
“Neither do I,” Rus said with a laugh. “That’s why I asked.”
“You won’t be alone.” Kaiden gestured to Dylan.
“I don’t know.” Dylan shrugged. “It’s been forever since I’ve gone to Himbos; I might lose him.”
“And I’m just a lil baby, remember?” Rus made his voice light and childish.
Kaiden scoffed. “I guess I can check my schedule.”
“Sounds good.” Dylan shoulder bumped his friend, keeping Kaiden planted in place in the storage room.
“So, which one of you is buying me drinks?” Rus handed his phone to Kaiden.
“You little scammer.” Kaiden rolled his eyes, typing his name and number into Rus’ phone before texting himself.
“Damn straight—pun certainly not intended.” Rus winked. “It’s my first time at the gay club. I expect to be plastered on someone else’s tab.”
“We’ll find you a sugar daddy for the night,” Kaiden teased.
“Absolutely not,” Dylan replied. “They’ll eat you alive.”
“Doubt they could handle me.” Rus shot Dylan and Kaiden a devious smirk.
Kaiden smiled back, a bit surprised how endearing Rus came across.
It was one Friday night. He didn’t have to put his life on hold every single weekend. At least, he told himself that while he figured out what excuse he’d use to avoid his sister’s ire.