Chapter 53
Maybe Gavin knows of some. He works at the college; he’s around art students all the time. Now that they’ve done one show, Gavin might notice others advertised on campus…
As if thinking of him calls him up, Brody’s phone chirps with a new text message. He has to stretch across to the bedside table to snag it, then sits back to read the text. Just as he thought, it’s from Gavin.
M outside. Come down.
Brody frowns at the phone, then glances at the alarm clock. He’s here now?
Setting the sketchpad aside, Brody hurries to pull on the pair of black cargo pants pooled on the floor. His roommate probably wouldn’t mind if he ran down to answer the front door in his boxers, but if Gavin isn’t planning to stay long, he doesn’t want to have to run back upstairs to get dressed before coming outside. Did he say come outside? Brody checks the text again—come down. A second later, he hears a distant knock on the front door.
He tucks his phone into his back pocket as he leaves his room. Another door opens the same time as his, but when his roommate appears, he tells her, “It’s for me.”
“Okay, great.” She works at Richmond’s free local paper, Style, and her weekends are spent in a hazy blur of cigarettes and layouts and last minute copyedits. The paper is delivered on Tuesdays, so when she gets home Monday night, she’s half-ready to fall out into an exhausted slumber. She closes her bedroom door, and Brody hears the lock sliding into place as he quickly takes the stairs two at a time before Gavin can knock again.
When Brody opens the front door, Gavin’s hand is raised—just in time. “Hey,” Brody sighs, stepping out onto the porch for a quick kiss. Gavin tastes like garlic and oregano, and he smells like he spent the evening in an Italian kitchen. Brody cups his lover’s face in both hands and breathes him in. “God, you smell delicious.”
Wrapping his arms around Brody’s waist, Gavin laughs. “Marian makes a mean spaghetti.”
“How was dinner with the girls?” Brody asks.
Gavin rolls his eyes. “Evie wasn’t there. Long story. Do you mind if I come in?”
Brody glances at the street but doesn’t see Gavin’s car, which means it’s probably parked at the university, which usually means…“You want to spend the night?”
A slow smile eases over Gavin’s face. “Do you even have to ask?” 41
In Brody’s bedroom, with the door locked behind them, Gavin strips down to a thin undershirt and changes into a pair of boxers he left there earlier. He has a whole little section in Brody’s top dresser drawer—a few T-shirts, a pair of jeans, underwear, socks, a bottle of the aftershave he prefers, and a toothbrush carefully set on top of it all. A couple nicer shirts hang in the closet, the only spots of color in Brody’s otherwise black wardrobe. The items aren’t only for when he spends the night; once he spilled coffee on his shirt at the office and didn’t want to teach his next class with the cooling stain spreading slowly across the center of his chest, so he ducked down the street to Brody’s to change. “If you ever move away from the school, I’m going to be in trouble,” Gavin joked at the time.
“There’s a hall closet I’m sure Chelle would rent out to you if you asked,” Brody replied
Gavin has nothing to worry about, though—he can’t see himself moving any time soon. He loves living in the Fan district, so close to the pulse of the city, and to Gavin. The only place closer would be moving in with his lover, but neither his room nor Gavin’s apartment is big enough for two people to live in full time. If things ever progress past staying the night, they’ll have to move into a larger place altogether. Something with three rooms, maybe, a bedroom to share and a study for each.
Which isn’t a bad thought, actually. Brody would love a room dedicated to his art. And sharing a bed with Gavin every night is a heady thought.
As he dresses, Gavin tells Brody about Marian’s lame attempt at seduction, leaving no detail out. Brody listens as he puts away his sketchpad and the photos he’s been commissioned to recreate. “So what, now she wants you back?” he asks, a little angry.
Gavin sits on the edge of the bed and catches Brody’s wrist. “Well, she can’t have me,” he says, tugging Brody close for a loving kiss. Against Brody’s lips, Gavin whispers, “I’m all yours.”
“Finally.” Brody lets himself be pulled down onto the bed beside his lover. Wrapping his arms around Gavin’s shoulders, he kisses Gavin back against his pillows, hungry for the man he spent the weekend with and still never managed to bed. Between kisses, he murmurs, “I’ll tell her myself if I have to. Bitch, back off. You’re mine now.”
“Hmm, I like the sound of that.” Gavin’s hands slip under Brody’s shirt, pushing the fabric up out of the way. Sitting back, Brody pulls the shirt off over his head and tosses it aside. Then he rucks up Gavin’s undershirt, bunching it up around Gavin’s neck as he leans down to playfully bite at his lover’s nipples. With a gasp, Gavin squirms beneath him—he licks the right teat hard, then the left, then nips at the erect bud. Catching it between his teeth, he growls deep in the back of his throat as he tussles with it.