Chapter 94
“Well you can’t blameme for worrying,” Nick said. “It looks bad, baby, you without even an ID, working under the table for scraps?”
“Andy can make his own choices,” Jason said, finally joining the group and doing his impressive loom, biceps flexing as he twisted the dish towel in his hands. Strange how it had seemed so frightening at one time, but now, Andy felt sheltered. Protected. “He keeps telling you he wants to stay. Suggest you listen.”
Nick sized Jason up, cautious and somehow contemptuous at the same time, the way he’d face down a posturing gang member on the subway. “It would really be in your best interests to let me take him home,” Nick said. “Andy’s sucha darling, I’m sure you’ve noticed, but over time, he’s just terriblyexhausting to take care of. So high maintenance, and it looks like you’ve got plenty of maintenance to do here already, without having to add him to the list. You wouldn’t believe all the work I’ve had to put in these last years.”
Scooter’s hand had been squeezing Andy’s shoulder, light but comforting, and then his hand came up to curl into a fist. “You son a bitch!” Scooter snapped. “You’ve done nothing for Andy, you know nothing about him!”
Nick’s mouth curled into a smirk, an inward laugh at a joke none of the rest of them would find the least bit amusing. He took a small step forward, taunting Scooter, daring
“Scooter, no!” Kat was there, suddenly, grabbing at Scooter’s arm. “You can’t. You must not hit this…creature. It is not worth it, he is not worth the trouble, you will—”
Nick’s face scrunched in disgust. “Scooter, really? Scooter? Andy, darling, tell me you’re not seriously abandoning me for this…redneck white trash.”
Kat whirled.
Scooter had told Andy that when Kat was really angry, she didn’t yell, she just acted.
Her fist shot out and connected solidly with Nick’s jaw. “Suka, blyad,” she growled, low and harsh. “Don’t you talk about my home this way!” Andy hadn’t even seen her step past him; she had just appearedthere.
“Woah, no fair,” Scooter complained, absolutely flabbergasted. “How come you get to hit him?”
Nick staggered, and would have fallen if he hadn’t bounced into the car instead. “You bitch,” he snarled. “I will have your skinfor that!”
“Ah, there’s the real Nick,” Andy said. As charming as Nick could be when he exerted himself, the facade always crumbled into some petty tantrum. Andy had known that about him even before realizing Nick’s behavior was outright abusive. “For the last time, Nicholas: Go. Away. I’m not going back to New York, with you or anyone else. I’m already home.”
Jason seemed to evaluate the scene, no doubt studying it like Andy might have with an engine schematic. “You’re not making yourself popular here. And you’ll find that all us locals tend to pull together against outsiders. There’s nothing here for you. Andy doesn’t want to go, and we’re not going to let you take him.”
Andy grinned at Nick’s poleaxed expression. “If I wasn’t in a deliriously happy relationship, and you weren’t so tragically straight,” he told Jason solemnly, “I would kiss you right now.”
“Yup, gonna dye my hair blue,” Jason responded, and Andy had to stifle a giggle at the puzzled glances Scooter and Kat exchanged. Jason waited a beat, then said, “What are you still doinghere? Go. My God, Andy, you said he was awful, but you didn’t say he was stupid.”
“Well, he didn’t used to be thisdumb.” What was the local expression…? Oh, yes: “Bless his heart. Maybe it’s the heat,” Andy said. “It does strange things to people who aren’t used to it.”
Nick dabbed at his bleeding lip and finally, finally left. He turned on his heel and got into his car. He threw it in reverse and spun gravel, forcing all of them to back away hastily. The rocks plinked against Scooter’s truck and Jason made a muffled grunt as one of them struck him in the leg. Just before Nick peeled away, he rolled down the window and yelled, “You will regret this, Andrew Howard! I swear, you will rue the day!”
Scooter raised an eyebrow. “Rue the day? Did he really just say ‘rue the day’? Like, who says that?”
Andy laughed, halfway to hysterical. “Oh my God, what a fucking drama queen.” He reached out, groping, and grabbed at Scooter’s shirt, desperate for contact, for support, before his knees completely gave out.
Scooter caught him, just before Andy slid to the ground. “You okay, sweetheart?” Scooter practically picked Andy up and sat him on the tailgate, standing in the vee of Andy’s knees. “He didn’t…do anything before I got out here?”
Andy shook his head. “No, he just…snapped his fingers and expected me to heel.” He laughed again. “God, what a fucknut. How the hell did I ever think he was…anythingI could want?”
“We all make mistakes,” Scooter said.