Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92536 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92536 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Old, traumatic memories tried to worm their way into his consciousness. Things he’d put to bed years ago with the help of rehab and therapy threatened to return and steal his happiness.
He imagined swiping them away as one did an undesirable Grindr date. The visual had worked for him in the past and worked again now.
“So, uh, what are you doing all the way out here in Tulsa this morning?” he asked instead of sitting in tense silence as Tate seemed happy to do.
The man across the table shrugged. “Picking up some tile from our supplier.”
Excitement surged through him. “My tiles?” He couldn’t keep the enthusiasm out of his voice. Opening a studio had been his dream for years, and modernizing the locker rooms was a huge step toward making that dream come true.
Tate tore a chunk off his bagel and popped it in his mouth. “Yep,” he answered around the bite.
“Yay!” Liam threw his hands in the air as he cheered, drawing curious stares from other patrons, but within a second, they lost interest. “Gah, I’m so freaking excited.” He did a little shimmy in his seat. What could he say? When he was happy, he danced.
Tate stiffened and glanced around. When he realized no one cared about two men sitting at a table together, even with Liam’s shout, he relaxed again.
Baby steps.
“So, Tate, what’s your story?”
The man across the table raised an eyebrow. “My story.”
“Yeah.” He took a bite of his muffin and groaned. “Oh, my God, this is so good. Wanna bite?” he asked, pointing to his plate.
Tate shook his head. “I’m good.”
“More for me.” After shrugging, Liam ripped off another piece of the incredible muffin and stuffed it in his mouth. The buttery, cakey dough combined with the sweet and tart bite of blueberry made his taste buds sing. “Mmm, seriously, this is so good.” After one more taste, he set the muffin down. “Okay, sorry, I’m done making love to the muffin. Your story. You know, where you’re from, what you like to do for fun, what’s your family like.”
Why aren’t you out?
Tate glanced toward the counter where the barista was laughing loudly, having found a new customer to flirt with. This one seemed ready and willing to banter right back.
Once the laughter stopped, Tate glanced down at his bagel and then up at Liam. He stared him straight in the eye when he said, “I’m from here. I’ve lived in the same shitty trailer park my entire life. Never traveled out of Oklahoma. My family sucks. Mom’s a drug addict who doesn’t give a shit about anything but her next fix, and my old man split when I was two. He comes around from time to time fucking up our lives and putting my mom through the wringer. I’ve got one brother, Randy, who you met the other day. He’s a bigot and an idiot like everyone else I know.”
A swallow of muffin dried up halfway down his throat, scratching the entire way to his stomach. Pain and longing, which Tate would probably never admit to, bled through his story loud and clear, but he’d still left so much unsaid. Those words seemed to brush over years of fear and hiding so many young men like Tate suffered. Liam wanted to weep for this man who lived his life in hiding. Who didn’t feel safe showing the world his true self. The way he ran from the club the other night practically before he finished coming made sense now.
Liam grabbed his coffee to keep from rubbing a hand over his aching heart. Instead of taking a sip, he traced his finger over the lines of condensation running down the chilly cup. Based on the way both Tate and Randy reacted to him in the studio, he had a feeling Tate didn’t have a lot of queer role models in his life, if any.
A thought struck Liam. One he had to have answered right then. “Am I the first gay man you’ve ever known?” Even though the café wasn’t crowded, and no one paid them any attention, he kept his voice down in deference to Tate’s skittishness. It felt as though if Liam said the wrong thing, the other man would flee at any time.
Snorting, Tate shook his head. “You know where we met,” he whispered back. “That wasn’t my first time there, Luxe. Lots of gay guys there.”
A sly smile curved Liam’s lips. “Oh yes, I remember that night very well,” he crooned, unable to keep the desire out of his voice. “In fact, I’ve relived it quite a few times, if you catch my meaning.” Relived it with his hand wrapped around his cock and Tate’s name on his lips.
Tate didn’t glance around this time to see if anyone was eavesdropping. Instead, his eyes darkened, and he shifted as though he needed to relieve an uncomfortable stiffening in those jeans.