Page 26 of Disco Witches of Fire Island

Ronnie laughed nervously. “Well, Iwaskind of weird as a kid …”

Vince smiled. “And …?”

“Okay, okay. Well, it’s like this—I thought I could fly.”

“Aw, that’s cute for sure,” Vince said. “Kids have terrific imaginations.”

“This was more than that.” Ronnie’s brow dipped. “It felt completely real, like you and me standing here right now. Every night for almost a year I dreamed that I could wiggle my fingers like this and I could float off my bed, out the window and all over Philly and parts of New Jersey. Sometimes I’d wake up on the floor in the morning, with bruises from falling off my bed. My mom would say my dreams were one of the things that made me special. But my father would call me ‘Unlucky Lindy’ or ‘Butterfly Boy,’ and he worried I might have some mental issues since I insisted it was really happening. I finally got sent to the school shrink, and eventually the dreams stopped.”

Without warning, Vince pulled Ronnie into a tight hug.That’s a strange reaction,Ronnie thought. But it was also perfect. Too perfect. It was the kind of hug he would have loved to have gotten from the rich older lover he intended to meet that summer—but not from Vince. Worse was that look in Vince’s eyes, as well as those damn butterflies fluttering around Ronnie’s stomach again. Where was a can of Raid when you needed one?

“Hey, Vince, I need to be honest with you about something, okay?”

“Sure,” Vince said.

“I like you a lot … but I’m not interested in dating you.”

And there it was, just like Ronnie thought, that look of disappointment in Vince’s eyes.

“Is that so?” Vince released Ronnie from his arms. “And who says I was interested in datingyou?”

“I didn’t mean that.” His voice wavered. “Just making sure we’re on the same page.”

“Well, isn’t that simply precious of you.” The Irish skinhead scowl was back. “Pretty feckin’ arrogant to assume I’d be interested in anything more than a shag with the likes of you.”

“No it’s just …” Desperation tore through Ronnie’s voice. “I wanted to explain—”

“I’m only codding ya, boyo.” Vince’s sexy smile returned. “We are definitely on the same page. Haven’t the slightest interest indating anyone at this point, especially not some flyby summer worker—no matter how shiny a penny he may be.”

“Great. Then we understand each other.” Ronnie wanted to feel relieved, but he didn’t. He needed to be more clear—for himself. “So here’s the deal—tonight is gonna be a one-night stand, okay? But the good kind. What I mean is, we’ll make it count. One great night of sex—every dirty fantasy we have. Then we’ll say goodbye forever. No mess, no stress. Okay?”

Without responding, Vince looked off down Bay Walk. It was unclear to Ronnie whether he would agree or bolt … until Vince pulled him in close, squeezed one hand down the back of Ronnie’s jeans and clutched the meaty globe of his ass.

“Okay then, lad,” he said. “But if it’s only for tonight, this is mine.” His finger hit the bull’s-eye between Ronnie’s cheeks, causing him to gasp in both shock and pleasure. When Ronnie reached around for randy reciprocity, Vince grabbed his wrists and flipped him into a bent-over hold. “Your muscles might be bigger, lad, but mine actually work. Do we have a deal?” He kissed Ronnie’s neck.

“Yeah,” Ronnie said, way too turned on to remember his initial pump-and-dump plan. Would it be so bad to let the butterflies flutter around his ribcage for one lousy night? By morning they’d all have flown away. It was Fire Island, after all. “We definitely have a deal.”

15.Sunrise Surprise

“The Great Balance is our eternal aim, but we can never stop dancing—even if the Great Darkness is spinning in the DJ booth.”

—Disco Witch Manifesto #13

At 5:03AMJoe had finished mopping the floor and hosing down the sludge mat. All in all, his end-of-the-night bar-cleaning duties took one entire side of Elliot’sLove Songs 1. His pulse wouldn’t stop buzzing from the first night’s excitement, not to mention the Devil Dog–sized roll of bills in his pocket. In order to blow off steam before bed, he decided to watch the sunrise on the beach while finishing the leftovers in hisCharlie’s Angelslunchbox.

Barely a seventy-foot walk from the bar door, stepping onto the beach at dawn was like arriving in a temporary paradise, with its miles of empty sand, raging ocean, cawing gulls, and spectacular awakening sky.

“ ‘Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in the morning, sailors heed warning,’ ”he whispered out loud. How to identify a coming storm was one of the few things his late father, a former navy man, had taught him. Although, beyond a few wisps of red, that morning’s sky was mostly orange, yellow, and a little purple. What did that foretell?

Elliot had been obsessed with sunrises. Once, they’d spent a week together in Ocean City, New Jersey, and he’d insisted they depart Philly at three in the morning so they could catch the sunrise over the ocean together. When they reached the Great Egg Harbor Bridge, Elliot had shouted, “I spy the bay!” with glee. It had been his family’s tradition that whoever was first to see their watery destination shouted it out as if they had won something. Joe loved how Elliot was able to mix his powerful, grown-man self with a child’s sense of wonder.

As the sun’s blazing head tipped over the horizon, a strong breeze blew salty-sweet air up Joe’s nose. He opened theCharlie’s Angelslunchbox and pulled out Lenny’s homemade chocolate chip cookie. Just then, from the corner of his eye, Joe noticed a tall, brawny man in a gray sweatshirt and jeans, walking along the edge of the water a hundred yards down the beach. He squinted and stopped chewing. It washim, the Gladiator Man! Remembering Ronnie’s advice to never miss opportunities, Joe dropped his lunchbox and darted onto the sand, waving his arms wildly. “Hey you! Can you talk for a minute?” he screamed. “Stay right there for a second!”

The Gladiator Man stopped walking, adjusted his stance so the rising sun illuminated his perfection, and then waved back. Joe’s heart kicked like a rabbit. It was going to happen—he was finally going to meet the Gladiator Man. Joe planned to ask where he lived, talk about how he was new to Fire Island, let him know he was single. He wouldnottalk about Elliot.

He hoped he wasn’t appearing too enthusiastic. Ronnie had once told him that after you know a guy likes you, it was necessary to play it cool for a while. “Guys without barriers look broken,” he had warned. “Like a cracked ashtray you find in a bargain basement.” When Ronnie hit on a guy in a bar, he’d keep looking at his watch and checking the door like he was expecting someone else. “Eighty percent indifference, twenty percent flirting and he’s all yours.” Joe had tried it himself once, but the guy had looked creeped out and bolted. Ronnie said it was because Joe’s abrupt switch between flirting and indifference looked more like he had a deranged twitch.

But that morning on the beach, there wasn’t an indifferent cell in Joe’s body as he charged across the beach like a desperate soldier at Iwo Jima. The closer he got, the more handsome Gladiator Man appeared. His heavy eyebrows hung low over dark brown eyes that, even at fifty feet, sliced into Joe’s soul. His salt-and-pepper beard was darker around the mouth and had a dollop of gray in the middle of the chin. His massive pectorals and shoulders pushed against the fabric of the gray sweatshirt. His two hairy forearms, muscular and foreboding, hung by his sides, with hands thick and powerful, like two leashed pit bulls ready to either embrace or kill. He was all that Joe had ever desired—sexually speaking. Of course, Joe would have to be careful. Being older, the man was more likely to have the virus. Joe couldn’t bear losing someone else. But it wasn’t the time to worry about that. He hadn’t even met the man yet.

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