Chapter 17 #3
“Don’t get all sappy,” I say as I try not to let my face heat up. I’m not sure what’s so great about me, but when he says things like that, it makes me feel like I really am something special.
The door to Felix and Lane’s room bursts open and I find myself not even wanting to turn around. The expression on Grayson’s face tells me I’ve made a good choice, but I’m a curious man, and sometimes I can’t appease this curiosity by avoiding things.
So I turn around and look at Felix and Lane, both dressed all in black.
Felix has some weird faux leather pants thing going on, along with a black shirt and vest that looks like it’s out of a bad Halloween costume pack.
He jerks his chin up as he looks right at us while twirling a baseball bat which he immediately loses when it flies off and crashes into a plant stand. Somehow it withstands the assault.
“Whoops.”
“How did you already lose the bat?” Lane asks.
“Skills, Lane, skills!”
“Are we joining a biker gang?” I ask, extremely confused and positive that what they’re wearing is offensive to biker gangs all over the world.
“No, we’re fucking menacing, obviously,” Felix says.
I turn to Grayson. “Obviously, Grayson. He said obviously.”
Grayson slowly nods, obviously suspicious about this declaration. But because he’s a sucker who wants to get along with my friends, he nods like he understands.
Felix is glowering at us for some reason, as if we are the problem his outfit doesn’t work, not the outfit itself.
“I think the issue is that your shirt is buttoned,” Felix says as he unbuttons Lane’s shirt. “Eh? Are you guys shaking in your panties now or what?”
My attention returns to Grayson. “What do you think about just going without them?”
“Yeah. I mean, we can still take the pig. He’s less suspicious than those two.”
“Suspicious, my ass!” Felix says. “Come, my unsuspicious lover.”
“How can you get more suspicious?” I ask as I hear a horn beep and turn to Grayson. “Are we driving separately or are you coming back here?”
“What do you want me to do?” he asks.
“I mean… I guess we should probably go together, right? Just to keep these guys in line,” I say, refusing to admit that it means he’ll have to come back here with me. Not that I need him to come back here… but if he comes back here then I won’t have to be alone.
“Yeah, sure,” he agrees as he gets into the SUV. The moment I get in and see Antonio lower his sunglasses, I realize that I regret everything.
“Why the fuck does Antonio look so cool?” Felix asks.
“I’m sure he doesn’t look as cool as us,” Lane assures him.
“You two look like you’re posing as what someone who’s never seen a biker thinks a biker looks like,” Antonio says before taking off.
Half of us are still in motion and we go flailing in the vehicle. The only one who has no trouble with this at all is the pig who is apparently quite steady on his feet as he scouts the floor in case someone’s dropped some food he can vacuum up into his mouth.
I get a real close view of Felix’s outfit as I basically cuddle him from where he’d fallen into me.
“You smell… horrible. I feel like you might get radiation poisoning from whatever you’re wearing.”
“Don’t make fun of my latex vest,” he scolds. “I smell like a hero.”
“I… see,” I say, clearly not seeing.
“Lane, Cal just keeps bashing me down harder and harder. Beat him up for me.”
“Okay,” Lane says as he reaches for me. I skillfully slide Felix in between us so when he goes for a choke hold, he grabs his own one true love while I merrily put myself into my seat and buckle my seat belt.
“Laaaaaane, release! Laaane!” Felix cries.
“Sorry, babe. I knew the body felt a bit too… uh…”
“Manly? Too manly to be Cal? That’s what you were going to say, right ?” Felix asks as he finds his seat and buckles himself in.
“Yes. Manly. That’s the word I chose,” Lane says with the fakest smile on his face.
“How come I do everything I can to be magnificent for all of you, and all you guys do in return is torture me? Where is the kindness in your heart? The kindness I have inflicted on you should be reflected back on me.”
“Says the man who nearly got me murdered instead of a sandwich,” I say.
“Says the man who cackled when I knocked myself out with a rock,” Antonio contributes.
“You’ve been nice to me,” Grayson says.
“Just hang around him long enough,” I tell him.
Felix, who is now sitting in front of me, spins around to give me a look. “Why don’t I ever hear any of you blaming Lane?”
“Lane’s just a cool guy,” I say.
“Yeah, I have no problems with Lane,” Antonio agrees.
“Thank you,” Lane says as he holds up his hand, which I fist bump. Felix is gasping now.
“All of this is him! You guys! In the dead of night, he whispers these ideas into my head about all the shit he wants to get into! It’s not me! Guys! I want a fist bump. I want to be cool too,” he whines as he holds his fist in the air. Out of pity, I give him a bump, which seems to make him happy.
But the moment he gets that irritating grin on his face while he stares at both of us, I realize that I really shouldn’t have bumped his fist.
“Sooo…” His eyes flicker between Grayson and me.
“Do you ever want me to feed you again?”
“Sooo… the weather today… boy, it’s nice out,” he says. “Nice for a heist.”
“Sure is,” I say.
As Felix turns back in his seat, he begins talking to Antonio about why he hasn’t moved in with Frank yet, and I’m glad he has a new victim to harass.
I look over at Grayson, who smiles the moment he catches my eyes.
“Hey,” he says, voice soft. “I see you kept the gun I bought you.”
“It’s my baby. You may not touch him.”
“I wasn’t going to touch him.”
“I suppose you can stroke him since you did pay for him,” I concede.
“Weirdly more concerning.”
“He’s a good boy. I want to take him to Arthur’s and show him off. Rub it in his face, you know?”
“Yeah, that’s definitely what I do with friends,” Grayson says.
“The moment I do, he’s going to ask me to off his ex-wife, but my baby isn’t interested in being caught up in criminal charges.”
“Understandable. I really hope you also aren’t.”
He holds his hand out and I stare at it for a moment before I slide my hand into his. I can feel the happiness flood through him. It’s like he’s over there trying to play it cool while fighting off a smile. It’s hard to believe that I’m the one making him that happy.
Squeezing his hand, I lean back in my seat.
When Antonio isn’t trying to escape bad guys, he’s a pretty good driver, and I could get used to him chauffeuring me around.
Sitting here with soft music playing in the background, Felix trying to convince Antonio that he really could be a good dancer if he put his mind to it, and Grayson’s hand in mine, I feel oddly at peace.
I feel like I can breathe, and as if things might be okay for the first time in a very long time.
I close my eyes and when Grayson pulls me over to lie against him, I hesitate before letting him do so. It makes me realize why Felix enjoys lying against Lane so much, even if he claims he feels like a rock.