Page 41 of Cover Up

He could hear her muttering under her breath, but he did his best to ignore it as he pushed his cart toward the end of the line. There wasn’t a bagger, but he didn’t put up a fight when the cashier took one look at his missing arm, then began to do it for him.

At this point, he just wanted out. He was missing his tiny community where people didn’t look at him cross-eyed or like he was helpless. He missed not watching his tongue and feeling at home in his own skin.

He tried for a smile when the guy read his total, and then he swiped his card, gathered everything onto his arm, and leaned heavily on his cane as he walked out. They were probably saying a dozen awful things behind his back, but he’d leave them to their cesspool of judgment. He had an absurdly hot man back home with a wounded heart he could attempt to comfort and—hours after the sun went down—a big bed to cuddle up in.

* * *

The pool deck on the rental property had an outdoor kitchen, and it only took Dei a couple of tries before he figured out how to get the propane going. After a little coaxing, he managed to get Felix to throw on some swim trunks and lie out near the grill, and as Dei slowly turned the kebab skewers over the fire, he let himself stare at the long, lithe form of the man he was falling for.

Felix wasn’t very muscular, a little thick on his hips and belly, just the way Dei liked. And so much of his skin was covered in ink—different scenes in different styles, and he had both nipples and his navel pierced, which was the first time Dei had gotten a good look at them.

Felix seemed relaxed for the first time since they’d landed, which put Dei at a little more ease. He was in black trunks and matching shades, and he had one arm behind his head as he soaked up the very last of the afternoon sun. The breeze was drier than back home, which made it a little cooler, and Dei could appreciate it, even if he missed his own beach.

“We should take a walk after we’re done eating,” Felix said.

Dei blinked out of his thoughts and quickly looked down to make sure he wasn’t burning anything. “Yeah?”

“If you’re up for it,” Felix added. “Is it hell to walk on sand with your leg?”

It was, but Dei would rather die than admit it. At home, he usually just went with his crutches since he didn’t like taking his prosthetic into the water, but he hadn’t wanted to deal with checking them or storing them on the plane. He’d heard far too many horror stories about destroyed mobility aids, and he didn’t have the capital to keep replacing that shit every time someone was careless.

“It’ll be fine. Just don’t ask me to hike ten miles.”

Felix laughed, the sound sweet and genuine. “You couldn’t pay my ass to walk ten miles. I just thought it might be nice to put my toes in the water. I used to surf.”

Dei got a sudden image of Felix out on the waves in a formfitting wet suit, his hair mussed from salt water, and goddamn, he popped half a chub. He shifted so Felix wouldn’t be able to see him behind the little counter.

“You miss it?”

Felix nodded. “Yeah. Not enough to come back, but there are days I wish we had better waves. And maybe less sharks and man o’wars.”

Dei snorted a laugh. “No shit. A guy came to Midnight a few weeks back. Some tourist from Minnesota who got stung in the face.”

“Jeeeesus,” Felix said, twisting so he could look over his shoulder. “I can’t believe he stayed after that.”

“Poor fucker looked like he wanted to die, but his wife wasn’t havin’ it. She just shoved a big piece of Jer’s cake at him and told him to shut up.”

Felix groaned and dropped the side of his forehead to the edge of the lounger. “Why do straight spouses hate each other so much?”

“When you grow up bein’ told that your bullies are your admirers and that marriage is a ball and chain, that’s what you expect,” Dei answered. He’d always known he wasn’t going to marry a woman, but for a long time, he hadn’t realized why. All he knew was that everyone around him seemed to be miserable, and that was the last thing he wanted for himself.

“Did you ever meet Tony?”

“That silver fox daddy?” Dei asked.

Felix looked slightly put out. “I’d kill to age that hot.”

“You remember what he looks like?” Dei asked.

Felix shook his head. “I just remember thinking he was goals.”

“Darlin’…” Dei said, then stopped himself. It was too close to honest, and that would ruin the moment. “You got nothin’ to worry about.”

Felix waved him off. “Well, anyway, he’s been married for decades, and I mean, he’s not straight. He’s in a polyamorous relationship, but all he did while he was at the shop was obsess about how much he loved his and missed his wife. And not in that creepy, overcompensating way. You could just tell, you know? That he was in love with her today as much as he was in their honeymoon phase.”

Dei carefully removed the skewers onto a massive serving plate, then let them rest as he walked over to Felix’s lounger and sat. Felix shifted to make room for him, and their skin touched—warm and soft from the late afternoon.

“I want that,” Felix murmured after a long moment of silence. “I want to meet my best friend and marry him and stay best friends for the rest of our lives.”

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