Page 34 of Waiting on Life
He scowled. “You were supposed to eat that.”
“Came home, talked to my sister, went and crashed, because I knew this morning, I’d be seeing this guy I want to know better.”
Almost imperceptibly the frown became a sorta-but-not-quite grin. “Smooth talker.”
That rattled me a bit. Most times my relationships ended because the people I was with said I was too gruff. No one had ever said I was smooth, and it felt kinda good.
“So can I ask you a question I’ve been dying to know the answer to?”
I bent and gathered some of the larger shards of plate. “Sure, go ahead. Ask me anything you want.”
“How many tattoos do you have?”
“Six. An armored pegasus on my right shoulder, a chimera on my right leg, a gryphon on my left leg, Cerberus on my back, and a phoenix on my chest.”
Kyle cocked his head. “That’s five. You said you had six.”
My cheeks were heating. No one, other than the couple of women I’d been with, knew about my sixth tattoo.
“I have a….” My voice trailed off, because it was embarrassing as hell.
Kyle grinned at me. “I’m sorry, could you speak up? I didn’t quite catch that.”
“I have a dragon tattooed on my dick, okay?”
“On your….” He cringed and gave an exaggerated shudder. “Didn’t that hurt like a motherfucker?”
“You don’t know the half of it. It was my first tat. I was eighteen, thought I knew everything, and my buddy wanted a spider on his bicep. I scoffed and said that was sissy shit. I was big and strong and no little wimpy tattoo for me. I told the guy I wanted a dragon on my dick. Even now, Ben never lets me forget how I cried.”
Kyle snickered, then sobered. “I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing….” He burst into raucous, stomach-clutching laughter. “No, it’s at. I’m sorry.”
His laugh was so much like the rest of him. It was sweet and lilting, and I could listen to it for hours.
“You okay, Toby? You got this weird look on your face.”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said as I picked up the last bits of plate I could find. “Let me get something to sweep this up with. Why don’t you go play with Waldo? He seems to like you better than me anyway.”
“Nah, I’ll go grab a broom and dustpan. My mess, so let me clean it.”
“You were the one who got punched yesterday, so you’re going to go sit down while I clean.”
“I’m fine,” he protested.
“Great. Let me see the release from your doctor, and I’ll be happy to put you back to work.”
He sobered. “Um… how will it be if we’re, I dunno, dating and working at the same place? You said don’t shit where you eat, which is a disgusting thing to say anyway.”
Truth be told, I hadn’t thought about that. There wasn’t much going on in my mind beyond getting to know Kyle better.
“And what about the guys? What will you tell them?”
Oh, that one was easy. “It’s none of their damned business. If they don’t like it, they know where the door is at.”
All of these things should be scary for me, but none was nearly as frightening as walking away from Kyle without knowing if we had a chance together.
“We see each other, we don’t hide it, but at the bar, we act professional. Will that work for you?”
His smile was as big as it was beautiful. “Sure, I can do that.”
