Free Stories Beneath Our Skin by Veronica Sloane Page B

care about my being gay or anything, but I know he wishes I'd find someone and settle down."
    " Maybe he just wants you to be happy. Some people have a pretty limited idea of what happy means."
    " Maybe." Liam glanced at him. "What about you? What's your idea of happy?"
    " Depends on the day." Ace shrugged. "Enough money to keep the shop open, enough food to keep me full, and a few friends are usually enough for me. What about you?"
    " A full house." He said before he could stop himself. "I want to come home at the end of a long day doing a job I love and have someone waiting who's happy to see me."
    " Yeah." Ace smoothed down the wrinkled line of his cutoffs, plucked idly at the soft white cotton strings. "That's as good a definition as any."
    " I should probably just get a dog."
    " Heh. Cynical, Professor, very cynical."
    " Animals are more reliable than people."
    Silence descended in the car, the sun superheating Liam 's skin where it pierced through the windshield. Yet a prickle rose on the back of his neck just like the night before. This time Liam caught Ace at it.
    " You stare a lot." He grumbled, flicking on the radio.
    " There's a lot to look at." Ace didn't apologize. If anything, with it acknowledged between them, his gaze intensified.
    " It's weird." Weirder still was that Liam sort of liked it. He spent so much time trying not to be seen that it carried an illicit sort of thrill now. He felt naked and vulnerable, but for the first time in too long, also unafraid.
    " Don't know if you've noticed, but I'm weird. Get used to it."
    " You're not. Weird, I mean. Just intense."
    " But my staring is weird."
    " And intense."
    " It's a bit of the old pot and kettle there." Ace snorted. "You've got laser focus sometimes."
    " No idea what you're talking about."
    St. Francis loomed up , and Liam took three steadying breaths. His usual parking space was open, and he tried not to take that as a good omen. There wasn't any sense in looking for hope in these sorts of things. The time for hope was over. Psyching himself up to face reality required most of his energy, and it wasn't until Gretchen asked, "And who's your friend?" that he realized Ace had followed him inside.
    " Oh. Um." Liam nailed Ace with a hard glare, jerking his head back to the car, but Ace missed it entirely, too busy taking in the room. "This is my boss, Ace."
    " Nice to meet you." Gretchen eyed Ace warily. "He going in with you?"
    " Yeah." Liam said, flipping to the defensive fast enough to give himself whiplash. He didn't actually want Ace there, but he didn't like Gretchen's tone either. Just because Ace looked like the poster boy for What Your Mother Warned You About didn't mean he wasn't a decent person. "That okay with you?"
    " Sure." She pushed the visitor's log at him. "You know the drill."
    " Just sign in." Liam pushed it toward Ace and watched him draw in his signature complete with an extra flourish and smarmy smile for Gretchen. Apparently Liam wasn't the only one feeling defensive.
    " Remember to be quiet. People need their rest." Gretchen chirped, eyes still warily on Ace.
    " I remember." Liam sighed. He wanted to tell her that Ace, love of thumping bass lines notwithstanding, carried with him a profound quiet. Even his heavy boots barely squeaked against the shining tile floors.
    " Not bad for what it is," Ace said softly.
    " I hate it."
    " Well, yeah. Guess you would even if it was the Taj Mahal."
    " The Taj Mahal is a tomb." Liam ran a hand through his hair, wondering if his clothes would give away that he hadn't been home.
    There wasn 't any time for warnings or admonishments, and, really, Liam didn't know where to start with those anyway. It had been too many years since Liam had introduced anyone to Gene. Once Liam was sixteen, Gene had given him a lot of free rein, and on the surface it hadn't been a bad idea. Good grades, self-motivated kid with a part-time job shouldn't need constant supervision. Sometimes Liam wished it had been