Page 43 of Hounded
Indy’s eyes widened while I described the way he shopped for clothes and how he always drank too much wine at Sully’s gallery shows. It didn’t take much to get him tipsy. He came alive in the lights at Coney Island and always asked the ride attendant to stop the gondola at the top of the Ferris wheel so we could hover like birds in flight.
When I finished, my mind was swirling and my breath was short from the most talking I’d done in weeks. Indy looked on with his pink lips slightly parted. Then, he smiled.
“So, youarebest man material,” he said.
The dryer buzzed.
Still grinning, Indy returned to the bench and retrieved the battered copy ofHighlights. I meandered over to retrieve the trash bag he’d brought his clothes in, then carried it to the wall of steel machines.
Hot air kissed my skin as I opened the dryer and duginto it. I scooped Indy’s garments out by the armload and was standing head and shoulders deep in the cavity when his voice came from behind me.
“I’ve been meaning to ask. You top or bottom?”
I jerked back, knocking my head against the dryer door frame with an echoing clang that made my ears ring.
My hound yelped, and I might have, too, as I straightened away from the stacked machines and rubbed my palm across the base of my skull.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Indy crowded in, barely coming up to my chin as he pressed his chest against mine in a way that made my breath hitch. I moved back half a step only to find myself pinned between him and the wall of washers and dryers.
“Imean…” Indy stretched the word out. “Do you give or take dick?”
My gaze flicked to the desk and the old man dozing away. His inattention provided little relief from my surge of discomfort. I shifted but, with the dryer door open and Indy’s arm barred against my other side, I couldn’t go far.
He cocked his head, and his eyes pinched. “You’re not in the closet, are you?” he asked. “Like, you are gay, right? At least bi? I mean, you could pass, for sure, but it’d be a real loss for my team if you were into women.”
I gave an exasperated huff before mumbling, “I’m not into women.”
Indy’s lips quirked. “Rah, rah.”
I coughed, then reached into the dryer to gather the last few garments and stuff them in the bag. When the flush left my cheeks and I turned around, Indy was waiting while wearing the same amused expression.
“What’re you doing after this?” he asked.
Confessing that my afternoons were most often spent sitting in my truck watching his comings and goings made me sound like a stalker. Sully even said so. I should have been doing something about the Joss Foster job but, much like when Indy was in rehab, I found my motivation for retrieval work sorely lacking.
“Wanna go back to my place?” Indy asked.
He was so close I could feel his warmth and, with his phoenix scent gone, I could clearly smell his perfume. It was some high-end brand. I’d seen the bottle on the bathroom counter, but all I knew was it filled my nose with the scents of ginger and vanilla and, when his skin had that certain glow that made him shimmer in the light, I wanted to lick it off him.
“I promise not to try anything untoward,” he added. “Just wanna keep the hangout going. Unless you already have plans.”
“I don’t,” I answered, perhaps too readily.
His smile spread. “Well, now you do.”
16
Loren
Once I passed throughthe hidden barrier of Sully’s wards, the sights and smells of home bombarded me. My hound yipped and howled so loudly that I worried his racket might escape. I shouldered the bulging laundry bag while Indy fiddled with the lock on the door. Before he got the key properly fitted, he turned toward me and held the keyring aloft.
“You know what I just realized?” He pinched the novelty penis keychain between his thumb and forefinger. Pushing the button caused the tip to beam a light at my eyes.
“It’s a fleshlight!” He broke into giggles.
Six months earlier
