Free Room For One by Cooper West Page B

deadline or out at a nighttime shoot, he was there.
    Once a month, David held large Southern-style potluck affairs that brought in twenty to thirty people. The first one Toby only partially attended, going out for a movie earlier as he usually did when tenants held parties. He figured being the landlord was not an automatic invite and tried to be respectful. When he showed up later that night, David fell on him in almost comical dismay, wondering why he had not come home earlier and forcing him to try his best friend’s version of bacon-wrapped artichoke hearts by poking one in his mouth when he tried to answer him.
    Toby stopped trying to pigeonhole David after that, figuring he was someone who was used to having lots of people around and enjoyed cleaning the resulting mess. He kept his guitar practice quiet, and when he was not at band practice, or his job, or hosting a party, often sat in the living room reading a book. Toby enjoyed David’s company, which was more than could be said of some tenants, and if he always seemed to be underfoot, it was not as if it was much of a hardship.
     
    T OBY came home from the shoot hot and sticky and miserable. His models looked elegant and sexy in latex while making out in the ferns, but they had also nearly passed out from heatstroke. It had been a five gallon sport drink kind of shoot, and Toby was very bitter that his fans and customers would all look at the pictures and think the sweat was sprayed on the models out of a bottle. Every drop was real, on them and on him, and Toby’s own damp clothes were testament to his craft. At least, he thought so.
    There was music in the den; he could hear it though the garage door as he dumped his gear and locked the place down. When he walked in, it was to candle light and blues music and the smell of something meaty and saucy.
    “What, you got a date and forget to warn us?” Toby nearly stumbled into the couch. David put down his guitar and jumped up, grabbing him.
    “What the hell? You okay?”
    “Winter can get here any damn time it likes. It is ten different kinds of hell out there.” Toby nodded absently, the cool air of the A/C making him giddy. He felt himself being pushed into the cushions, and part of him rebelled at sitting on anything without a shower first but exhaustion won out.
    “Yes, hence I am in here.” David’s voice was distant. Toby realized why when David was in front of him again with a glass of water. “Drink.”
    “Mmmmm.” Toby nodded and downed the glass, holding it out for a refill. David was in and out of the kitchen again quickly, handing him another full glass. This time he sipped at it.
    “Seriously, you look beat. You going to be okay?”
    “Yeah. I’ll be fine. Just a miserable day out there, three hours doing that shoot in the boonies and most of that time I was thinking I would have to call the paramedics for my models.”
    David gave him a confused glance as he sat back down and picked up his glass, filled with amber liquid that Toby guessed was whisky.
    “Latex. It was for some new dresses LaTextia has coming out, so we just doubled up and shot some soft-core sex scenes for the web site too. But jeezus, we were all ready to pass out looong before the come shot.”
    David frowned. “Since moving in with you, my interest in porn has really dropped off. You kind of ruin the magic for me.”
    Toby nodded as he leaned back and closed his eyes. “S’my job. You’re welcome.”
    David snorted and laughed, but did not add anything else to the conversation. Toby heard him pick up his guitar again and start playing bits and pieces along with the music on the stereo. Toby drank his water and drifted for a bit, reveling in the A/C and the dark room and the soft couch.
    Finally David put down the guitar again. “Got some stew on. Should be ready. Care for any?”
    Toby nodded and held out his glass again, trying to look pathetic, which he feared was not much of a reach right then. David grinned at