Trouble and the Wallflower Read online

  Only he didn’t get so far as across the street when he spotted Gavin loping toward him decked out, looking good enough to lick. He even made smoking look sexy. And Davy hated cigarettes. Davy couldn’t help but stare at Gavin’s easy swagger as he crossed the street, jaywalking. The guy didn’t follow any rules, even simple ones, did he?

  Gavin drew nearer, and Davy’s heart thudded harder and his cock started pointing toward the man as if it were being attracted to its polar north. The guy was fucking devastating in a pair of straight-legged black jeans, white high tops, and a gray Henley, buttons open to reveal a chest tattoo. And of course he wore his beanie. Did he ever take it off? The tattoos on his arms and his James Dean bad-boy looks were getting him stares from more than just one passing person—male and female. But that damn smug smirk that seemed to be his trademark quirked up on the edge of his mouth as soon as his gaze lighted on Davy. Davy felt that goddamned smirk down to his toes.

  “Heya, Davy,” Gavin drawled. Davy almost came in his chinos when Gavin took a final drag from his cigarette, holding it between his thumb and his forefinger before flicking it on the ground and stamping it out. That mouth was lethal.

  “Litter much,” Davy scolded. Smooth. Gavin cackled and dismissed the words, eyes scanning the crowd gathering at the door of the club. He didn’t look impressed.

  “What are them lame dudes doing here?” He pointed to a group of guys who looked as though they’d tried too hard to emulate the cast of Jersey Shore. Davy didn’t feel quite so lame now. His black V-neck and chinos looked GQ compared to those idiots with their popped collar Abercrombie shirts and orange spray tans. “We call that the douche patrol. What, did every freshman at U-Dub decide to hit this show tonight?”

  Davy shrugged. Gavin appraised him for a minute. His stony-faced scrutiny was almost unbearable. Davy felt as though he could finally breathe again when Gavin went back to scanning the crowd of concert-goers.

  “Uh, as much as I like this group, those douches look like they’ll get the cops called on this gig and I hate this part of town. Would you oppose ditching and doing something else?” Davy agreed with Gavin’s assessment but he was wary of the invitation to do anything else. Partly because he wasn’t sure whether Gavin actually didn’t want to deal with the crowd or if he could tell just how uncomfortable Davy was. He hoped like hell it wasn’t the latter. He was tired of embarrassing himself in front of Gavin only to have Gavin come to the rescue.

  “Like what?” His tone was so dubious Gavin gave a hearty laugh. Davy couldn’t deny that it warmed him inside. It was such an honest laugh, and Gavin’s face was open and relaxed like it had been at the club when he was with his friends and unaware of the eyes on him.

  “Well, we’re all dressed up, may as well have somewhere to go.” Gavin pulled out his phone and started typing. After a moment the text-message tone sounded and he smiled. “Hey, Sean says karaoke is on over at The Place. He and Mason are there.”

  Davy was really unsure. He did feel better knowing that they wouldn’t be there alone and he had spent a lot of time getting ready. And if he was perfectly honest he had been looking forward to actually spend a night out with another person, even if it wasr Gavin with his leering and flirting that just never turned off.

  “Davy! C’mon. Drinks, watching drunk gays trying to hit Whitney’s high notes.” Davy almost gagged at the puppy-dog eyes Gavin attempted to sway him with. Granted, they were really pretty brown puppy-dog eyes, but that innocent look was in direct contradiction to the bad-boy thing Gavin was trying for. Davy wondered which one was the real Gavin. That made him even more wary of the guy.

  Gavin sighed. “Okay. How about this? Come for an hour. If you hate it, I’ll tell ’em I hit on you and you stormed out because I’m a major dickhead.” Davy felt himself giving in. Gavin obviously saw a crack in the facade, so he decided to move in for the kill. “I mean, you look hella sexy tonight. May as well show off that ass in those chinos. That should not be hidden from the world.”

  Davy blushed. “Okay, gah. Just don’t say any more shit like that, okay?” Gavin laughed again, and Davy couldn’t imagine saying anything other than a resounding yes to any question Gavin might ask if he kept looking at Davy with that brilliant light in his eyes.

  And you thought you were above being led around by your dick.

  “Didn’t I tell you to shut up?” Davy snapped. Gavin stopped laughing, face displaying total surprise. Davy stammered through and apology but couldn’t think of anything that made him sound less crazy, so he settled for “Sorry. Uh, let’s just get going.” He mentally kicked his own ass the whole way to the bus stop.

  Gavin was many things, but stupid he was not. He could tell Davy was not feeling the concert at all. He wasn’t impressed with the crowd himself, but Davy was almost vibrating with his need to get the hell out of there. He was glad he’d messaged Sean, because twenty minutes in the bar and a cocktail later, Davy had loosened up a little. Sean and Davy seemed to get along well. Davy was talkative with him…. If you could call it talkative. Talkative for Davy, anyway.

  It wasn’t hard to figure out that Davy didn’t get out a lot, but after about his fourth vodka and cranberry and a group shot of tequila, he’d confirmed it by saying, “I never do this, guys.” He was still shy as hell even drunk, but he thanked them for inviting him out. Gavin wished he could be as good with Davy as Sean was. Sean was patient and asked the right questions. Then there was Mason whose enthusiasm was infectious, so he had Davy almost bouncy and laughing openly at his antics. Gavin didn’t mind too much, though. While Sean had Gavin talking about how horrible it was that some queen murdering an Usher song (“How dare they give him a mic!” Damn, Davy has fangs. Store that away for later.) Gavin got a good look at Davy. And damn was that boy sexier than Gavin would have guessed in his uniform khakis and Bart’s Soda Shop T-shirt.

  Davy’s black V-neck was obviously just an undershirt. It was thin and looked soft, much like Davy. Oh yes, Davy had muscles in all the right places. His pecs were nicely rounded and his biceps bulged just enough to stretch the short sleeves. But he was still soft. He looked like someone you’d hug for hours and never get tired of it. He obviously played some kind of sport or worked out regularly, because that was not a body that was genetically gifted. And damn if Gavin was having the hardest time keeping his hands off it.

  He was annoyed when Sean looked at his phone and announced it was time for him to go and Mason followed suit. He wasn’t finished drinking in Davy. He needed more time. He knew no matter how drunk the kid got he’d never get laid. Dammit if that didn’t make him like Davy more. Who’d’ve known scruples would be a turn-on for Gavin Walker?

  After everyone shared bro hugs and agreed they’d do it again, it was just Davy and Gavin again. Gavin paid up their tab, telling Davy not to worry about it. “Well, since you paid the tab let me buy dinner. Is there anything open? I’m starving.” Gavin almost tripped over his own feet, shocked that Davy wasn’t running as fast as possible from spending time alone with him.

  “Uh, Dick’s is open.”

  Davy sniggered. Oh yeah, he was good and toasted. “Dick’s?”

  “That’s very mature of you, David.”

  Davy cocked his head, looking at Gavin strangely. “It’s just Davy. No David.” It was delivered very matter-of-factly. Gavin wasn’t sure if he’d just been told off or if it was just a friendly correction.

  “Sorry.”

  “No. It’s cool. You wouldn’t be the first to make the mistake.”

  “Well, Davy, do you want Dick’s?”

  “Um, I guess. I’ve never eaten there.”

  Gavin grabbed his heart in mock offense. “And you say you’ve lived here your whole life?”

  “Born and raised here in King County.”

  “And you’ve never had Dick’s? It’s, like, one of the treasures of Seattle!”

  Davy glared at him quickly, then seemed to pull his shy facade back over him like a comfortable blanket. Shi
t. “Hey, Davy, what’s that all about? What’d I say?”

  Davy chewed his tongue for a moment before he responded. “It’s me, really. I’ve never been good with getting teased. I don’t read social cues very well. I, uh, didn’t get to be around a lot of people my age until I got my job at the soda shop.”

  “Oh?” Gavin didn’t want to fuck up again. He’d been waiting forever for some little tidbit about this man. He wasn’t sure why Davy was so intriguing. Maybe it was because he couldn’t have him. Normally he wouldn’t look twice at someone as shy as this guy was. But he wanted to know Davy and if it required him keeping his fool mouth closed for once in his damn life, he could do it. So all he did was start walking in the direction of Dick’s waving for Davy to follow.

  Davy was silent for the rest of the walk. He didn’t say anything again until he requested a large order of fries and a chocolate shake. Gavin somehow didn’t imagine it was going to help his libido any to watch Davy suck a straw for the next fifteen minutes.

  He was right. Those rosy lips wrapped around the straw, Davy’s cheeks caving in as he sucked, and Gavin almost had to excuse himself to the bathroom. Then Davy’s wicked tongue would sneak out to lick the salt off his lips and there was no need for the bathroom. He was fairly certain he’d creamed his jeans. Now a cigarette and a bed would complete the night.

  How in the hell did Davy have that kind of power over him?

  They ate silently, Gavin watching the crowd thin until there was only two couples other than them. He noticed that he and Davy finished eating, so he collected their trash and dumped it into the bin. He turned to say something to Gavin but he hadn’t followed. He was still sitting in the booth, eyes downcast. Gavin felt a frown pulling the corners of his mouth. Please don’t let him be a crybaby drunk.

  “Hey, Davy? Ready to go?”

  “Can we just sit here for a minute?” Gavin studied Davy for a moment, not sure what to make of him. Davy took it as a no and started stammering. “Never mind. It was dumb. Sorry.” He’d not looked up once since he’d asked if they could stay, tried to shuffle out of the booth. Gavin placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back down into the booth.

  “Dude, chill. I got nothing but time, ’kay? It’s all good.”

  Davy gazed out the window looking particularly miserable, embarrassed.

  “What’s wrong?” Gavin hated to push, but he really wanted to figure out these weird triggers of Davy’s.

  “Sorry.” Davy finally looked at him, eyes a bit watery. “I promise I’m not a crier when I drink. I just don’t do well with people. I hate embarrassing myself.”

  Gavin placed his hand over Davy’s on the table and tried to sound as encouraging as possible. “You did nothing embarrassing. I just couldn’t tell if something was wrong. You seem bummed. That’s all.”

  Davy stared at Gavin’s hand covering his for a long minute, then pulled his away and put it in his lap. “I was homeschooled. I couldn’t remember if I told you that.”

  “No. You didn’t. That’s cool.” It explained it a little, but Gavin knew plenty of homeschooled kids who were way less shy than Davy.

  “Not really. It wasn’t cool. I wanted to go to school.” Guilt flashed over Davy’s face. “Homeschooling would have been cool but my mom wouldn’t really let me do any of the group stuff.”

  “Why so?”

  Davy grimaced. “She had panic attacks. Uh, something bad happened and she stopped leaving the house. Therefore, neither did I.”

  The pieces fell into place so loudly in Gavin’s mind that it sounded like a game of Bunko rattling in his brain. “Is that who you live with now?”

  Pure sorrow surrounded Davy. From his posture to his frown. “No. She died about a year ago. Aneurysm. It’s just me now.”

  Oh, Davy.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  Davy’s chin trembled but he never shed a tear. “Thanks. It was sudden, so I’m still caught off guard by the fact she’s gone, sometimes.”

  Gavin didn’t know what it was like to miss your mother. He would never miss his. He was glad it wouldn’t eat at him like it did Davy, but he knew he’d break like this if something happened to Ray. He definitely understood the loss. “What was her name?”

  “Mona.” Davy didn’t look up from his hands in his lap. “She was a good mom. I wish she’d done some stuff different, but she was good.”

  “I’m sure she was.” Gavin hated seeing Davy so down, so he thought it’d be wise to direct the conversation back to where they’d started. “So what do you do? Sit in your apartment by yourself?” That seemed so sad.

  “I work a lot, as you well know,” that was pointedly accusatory, “and I do online classes. I don’t get much chance to meet people, but I’m sure you’ve noticed I’m not great with people anyways, so I don’t ever know what to do when I get the chance to try to be friends with someone.” He chewed on his tongue, obviously a nervous habit, then laughed derisively. “Like now. You guys were great. You only hit on me the one time. Sean and Mason did their best to help me fit in, and here I am being a freak and dumping my shit on you.”

  “Davy, that’s what friends are for.” Friends don’t want to kiss it all better, though, Gavin.

  “I guess, but I still feel like an idiot.”

  “Don’t. Just, if you need to talk or just need to sit somewhere and be quiet but have someone else around, I’ll be here, ’kay. Just a friend. No judgment.”

  Davy gave a small smile. It wasn’t incredibly encouraging but it was an improvement. “Give me a sec,” Gavin said. He ran to the counter and asked to borrow a pen. He pulled a napkin out of the dispenser and jotted down his number. He was surprised to find he really had no ulterior motive this time. He smiled at the girl who’d let him borrow the pen and thanked her before returning to the table and passing his number to Davy. “Use it. Please. Coffee, a movie, help with your fucking homework. Me and Sean can take you out and get you drunk. Whatever. You want friends, you got ’em.” He couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth. No matter how sexy the guy was, he was clearly not Gavin’s type and vice versa, but friends they could definitely do.

  Davy looked at the napkin for a moment, then smiled sweetly. That was definitely an improvement. He folded the napkin neatly and put it away in his wallet. Gavin couldn’t help but smile too. “Can we stay just a little while longer?” Davy asked quietly.

  “Of course we can,” Gavin said warmly. “As long as you want.”

  Chapter Six

  Davy looked longingly out the front windows of the soda shop. After a week of constant gray skies and drizzling rain, they’d had another unseasonably warm, sunny day that had given way to a beautifully clear night. Davy had picked up a second shift to help out one of the girls he worked with, so he’d been in the shop from early morning and would be around until close. He’d been alone all day behind the counter save for the hour or so that the owner, Henry, had come in. It was still off-season and a Tuesday, so even the park had been unusually empty most of the day.

  He was surprised how bored he’d been without Gavin or one of his crew popping in throughout the day. Since their night out two weeks earlier, it was as if they’d come in every day to say hello, Gavin reminding him, “I only said I’d stay away if you had a horrible time.” Davy had to admit he’d had a great time. He was still mortified how much the drinking had loosened his tongue, especially with Gavin. There was something else, though, about Gavin that made Davy want to open up to him some.

  Davy hadn’t had a friend in a long time. When Gavin stopped with the innuendos and extended an offer of friendship, Davy latched on to it like a love-starved orphan from a third-world country. He was a little embarrassed, about how he’d acted at Dick’s but Gavin made a point of acting as though those last, maudlin moments at Dick’s hadn’t happened. Davy was eternally grateful, especially when Sean and Mason also made sure to pop in the shop on their breaks to say hi or ask if he wanted to have lunch with them. Their other friends N
ate and Devon only came when it was the entire group, and Nate a bit cold in his demeanor toward Davy. Davy wasn’t sure why but Nate made him uncomfortable. Then again, who didn’t?

  Gavin was his most constant visitor, though. Gavin would swagger in after class under the guise of getting peanut-butter shakes for his grandfather, but after a few days he’d dropped the pretense and would just wander in and sit at one of the stools at the counter and talk about inconsequential things.

  Davy learned a few precious details about his new friends. Since he still wasn’t one for talking, they’d talk and he’d listen and smile at their stories. Sean’s parents were from Columbia but, like Davy, he’d been born and raised in Seattle. When he was annoyed he’d go on tirades in Spanish but that was rare. Mason was from some small town in Texas and had moved up to Seattle for college but had dropped out after a year and decided not to leave. He was so laid-back Davy was surprised the guy wasn’t catatonic.

  Both Sean and Mason worked across the street in the market, Mason in a coffee shop and Sean in the comic store. Then there was Devon who tossed fish. He was sexy as sin, but his permanent dopey grin and good nature made him approachable. He was, by definition, a total airhead, but he was really nice. Devon was also quiet, like Davy—well, not in a shy way, just in a man-of-few-words way.

  Gavin, on the other hand, was a full-time student who lived with his grandfather after moving from Maine. He lived off some trust that he insisted wasn’t impressive but it was nice enough that he drove around in a rather large new model Ford truck. Why he needed such a big truck in Seattle was anyone’s guess.

  Davy was surprised when he found out Gavin was an art major at the University of Washington. He didn’t seem very artsy or like one for school, but Sean had assured Davy that Gavin was in fact in the top ten percent of the art department, as far as grades went. When he’d found that out, you could have knocked Davy over with a feather.

  This had been the first day none of them had stopped in, though. So with the lack of customers or busywork, Davy had time to realize in just a couple of weeks he’d actually grown accustomed to having people around—other than his worrywart uncle. Who’d’ve thunk it? Which made not seeing any of them after such a long, boring day a major bummer, and he wasn’t ashamed to admit it.