“No. This is my boyfriend, and these are my friends,” she says, cheerful as ever.
“Then why is he bleeding?” he asks, jutting his thumb toward the crybaby in the corner that has the hair on the back of my neck standing up. Before any of us can say anything, crybaby intervenes.
“I didn’t know he had a key to get in. When I went to open the door, he pushed it and it broke my nose. Now I’m gonna have a big hump in it.” He cries out the last part, and the man next to him starts making shhhing noises and rubbing his back. Motherfucker. They’re gay.
I look to the officer, and apparently the relief in my face has softened it and our story is believed. He nods his head, says a few words to Saylor, and leaves with his partner in tow. Saylor slips her hand around my waist and makes the introductions, still acting as if nothing is wrong.
“Dirk, Donnawayne and Jeffery. Guys, this is my Dirk.” Her Dirk. Only hers. She looks up at me, eyes filled with love and I cup her cheek, loving how she closes her eyes and turns her face into my hand so she can kiss my palm.
“Well, in case you didn’t know, mean ass, we’re gay,” Donnawayne says, removing the towel from his face so I can hear him. I just stare at them, not knowing what in the hell to say. It doesn’t bother me that they are gay, it just isn’t something I’m used to. I’m also still reeling from the fact that these men have no desire whatsoever for Saylor.
Jeffery keeps an arm around his lover and extends the other toward me. “Nice to meet you, Dirk. I just hate it had to be like this.” He smiles and there is no hostility in his voice. He isn’t pissed that I broke his boyfriend’s nose, not that I’d care too much if he was.
I don’t take his hand and he closes his eyes and snaps his fingers. “Right. Not a toucher. It’s fine. We will excuse just about anything for the man who has made our girl so happy.”
My girl. Not his. But his words were genuine and I now know that these are the other two people that are important in Saylor’s life.
“No, we will not!” Donnawayne says, shrugging Jeffery off and lightly slapping his chest. “Saylor, he broke my nose. I think he owes me an apology.” I move my focus to Saylor and I’m glad I did. She is beautiful.
“I love you,” she says, ignoring her friends and searching my face as if she is trying to make sure her memory of me didn’t deceive her.
“I love you too, baby,” I tell her, because she wants it. She wants the words, she wants the endearment, and it’s been too damn long since I’ve given it to her. I want to tell her again and again, but the other couple is arguing and fucking up my concentration.
“Will you apologize? Please?” Saylor asks, her lip poking out. I’d kiss him if she asked me to right now.
I turn to Donnawayne and give him the most sincere look I can manage. “I apologize. You caught me off guard.” Not that I owed him an explanation, but I thought it might help calm the waters. It doesn’t.
“Yeah, well what about my nose? It was once my best feature.” He is crying again and I look to Saylor for help. She just gives me an evil grin. I look at Jeffery, who is looking back at me, unsure of what to say. Yeah, well, that makes two of us. I shift, already regretting the words I’m fixing to say.
“I can reset it for you,” I offer, and a look of hope fills his eyes. Fuck.
“You can? You will?” If he hugs me, I’ll kill him. Saylor laughs and I know she knows exactly what I’m thinking.
“Come on. I’ll get some ice,” she says, and I follow her into the kitchen with the two men on my ass . . . I can only shake my head.
15
DONNAWAYNE’S NOSE WAS reset, Jeffery’s hand was numb from Donnawayne squeezing the shit out of it every time I came close to him, and my discomfort was at a max by the time Saylor and I were finally alone. When I asked her why she chose two gay men to be her only friends, she responded with a shrug and “at least I know they won’t take you.” Her answer was good enough for me. But, even if her friends were female, there was no one I wanted other than her.
“Will you sleep with me tonight?” Saylor asks, between yawns.
“Yes,” I tell her, thinking of how I want to make up for the days I missed.
“’K, I just need to take my contacts out.” I wait for her in bed, ready to feel her body against mine. I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep since I was with her.
When she climbs in, she is naked and my cock stands at attention at the feel of her silky skin against mine. “I haven’t slept hardly any since you left,” she says, and I feel the weight of her body on me as she starts to relax. Her head is on my shoulder, her arm around my neck, one leg thrown over mine and her bare chest against my side. I like her like this. Just the feel of her next to me has my own body relaxing. We don’t tell each other good night because words aren’t needed. We both know this moment is as good as it gets.