When Tony Met Adam (Short Story) Read Free Page B

added, “to let her move to … where was it, Miami?”
    “Milwaukee,” Jay said.
    “Shit,” Tony said again.
    “I wasn’t honest with you, either,” Jay said, finally looking up at him. “It’s my fault, too.”
    “If you want,” Tony said, even though he knew it was too little, too late, “I can give you her phone number and email—”
    But Jay was shaking his head. “Thanks, but no. It’s one thing to work the long-distance angle when it’s forced on you, but another entirely to seek it out.”
    “I’m so sorry.”
    “I’m already over it,” Jay said. “Same way I got over being disappointed in you for not trusting me with the truth.”
    “It wasn’t about trust,” Tony tried to explain. “It’s about responsibility. I couldn’t dump that on you. I wasn’t thinking clearly when I did what I did that night in Boston. I should have been more discreet.”
    “You shouldn’t have to lie,” Jay said.
    “The world is what it is,” Tony said, hiking his pack farther up on his shoulder. “And I live in it. I gotta go.” He nodded to Jay and Jenk and Izzy, all of whom dared to meet his eyes.
    Gillman, however, was still looking down at the floor. Still, he was the one who spoke up. “This … person you’re meeting in L.A.,” he said, using the same neutral gender that Tony had, and proving once again that he was way smarter than he looked and acted. “If it’s who I think it is … They don’t have a reputation for being … exclusive. You sure you know what you’re doing?”
    He finally looked up, and there actually may have been real concern in his eyes. Or maybe Tony just wanted to see it there.
    “I have no clue,” Tony admitted, and it felt strange, because he couldn’t remember the last time he’d talked about his personal life with anyone besides the man he was currently dating. “But I gotta, you know. Follow my heart.”
    Adam was ready when Tony rang the bell.
    He’d deliberately left his apartment I-don’t-give-a-shit messy, even though he’d had plenty of time to empty and load the dishwasher and to throw away the take-out food containers and pizza boxes that cluttered his kitchen counters. He could have moved in slow-motion, and still had time to make his bed and to pick the dirty laundry up off of his bedroom and bathroom floors.
    Instead, he’d left the place looking like crap. Instead, he’d sat in front of his big-screen TV and played
Grand Theft Auto
until even playing the video game Jules’s crazy way could no longer hold his attention. He’d made himself a sandwich with the last of the ham and cheese in his fridge, and he’d eaten standing up. But the bread was stale, and his hunger waned before he’d finished even half of it. So he left it there, right on the counter without a plate, along with the deli wrappers and the mustard.
    About a quarter to ten, he’d gotten extra antsy, so he’d added to the shithole-of-an-asshole effect, further dressing the set by opening a bottle of wine and pouring just a splash into two long-stemmed glasses. He carried them both into his bedroom, took a sip from one and drained the other. He set them both on the same bedside table, where they sat—a matched set with a pointed message. He would have opened a condom or two, tossed the rolled rubbers into the kitchen trash so he could leave the empty wrappers behind with the wineglasses, a very loud
hey, look what
I
did last night
, but he was running low.
    And he was going to need at least two.
    Only two, he quickly corrected himself. This was going to be a one-time event, and it was going to be over fast.
    Besides, the kid probably wouldn’t even see the wineglasses until after he’d grabbed Adam and thrown him onto the bed and … How had he put it?
Fucked his brains out
. Jesus.
    Adam had had a hard-on for hours now, ever since Tony had rasped those words into his ear. He hadn’t believed he was capable anymore of this kind of anticipation and physical