Looking for Trouble(62)
Clay grinned, his chest feeling full. Dylan kissed him once more, then playfully sashayed toward his friends.
Clay worked his way through the crowd, and then held up the wall exactly where he said he would.
He watched the four of them dance…and laugh. They were out there for hours, every once in a while a guy or two coming up to join them. Once someone slipped his hand under Dylan’s crop, and just as Clay pushed away from the wall, Dylan shoved the guy’s hand away, said something to him, and the guy held his hands up in defeat before walking away.
He definitely knew how to take care of himself.
Every so often Dylan or the group would come back over to him, and sometimes they tried to get him to go out with them, obviously feeling guilty he was standing there alone. They had no reason to. This was all Clay, and he knew it. Each time Dylan went back out to dance, Clay couldn’t help but feel like he was letting him down.
But he’d also never seen Dylan have so much fun either. He liked this. He deserved to do it more often.
And the fact that Clay had no interest in doing it himself just made him feel older…and made him hope this wasn’t the first of many things where they found they weren’t compatible.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Dylan
“I don’t think Clay had very much fun the other night,” Troy said as the two of them sat in the booth at the Mexican restaurant where they were having lunch.
“He had fun!” Dylan tried to play it off before his eyes met Troy’s…and then both dissolved in a fit of laughter. “Okay, fine, he didn’t have fun, but it’s not because of you guys. He’s not much of a dancer…and not really interested in bars either.”
“Didn’t you guys meet in a bar?”
“Yes.” He popped a chip into his mouth. “But that was just something he did every once in a while, when he wanted to get laid. It’s just… Things are different for Clay.” In almost every way, he and Clay were completely different people. They probably shouldn’t have worked together, and Dylan wasn’t going to lie, that thought sometimes scared him, but he knew he loved Clay. He knew Clay loved him, and he wanted it to work.
But that didn’t mean things hadn’t been slightly awkward between them since their night out. Dylan could tell Clay had things on his mind he wasn’t sharing, which of course made Dylan freak out because what if Clay decided the age difference was too much for him, or thought they were too different, or Dylan too immature?
“How so?” Troy asked, and Dylan shifted in his seat. “You don’t have to say if you don’t want to.”
“No, it’s not that.” He wanted someone to talk to. It was difficult because their night out had meant everything to Dylan. He was making a home there, he had friends there. But he also didn’t want to share any of Clay’s private business. “Clay didn’t come out until he was in his late thirties. He has an ex-wife, and he spent a lot of years in denial. And…when he did come out, he fell in love with a man who died a few years later.” He was positive Clay wouldn’t mind him sharing those things with Troy. Most people likely knew them.
“Shit…that’s harsh.”
“He basically decided he was living the rest of his life alone, and then…”
“And then Dylan Sutton showed up and rocked his world.”
Dylan rolled his eyes playfully. “More like he rocked mine…but anyway. You know he was my dad’s best friend, so it wasn’t easy. And with losing Gordon, he sort of folded in on himself. He didn’t get close to anyone or go out. Even before he lost his ex, he wasn’t into the whole bar-and-party scene. He’s also never dated anyone younger, so I think it just made him feel…older maybe? Like he didn’t fit.”
And Dylan hated that. He knew what it was like to feel like you didn’t fit in with people. He’d spent most of his life that way, and it was the last thing he wanted for Clay.
“Yeah, that makes sense. Sounds to me like maybe he’s missing some of his friends too. You’ve settled in, met people, which is great. You need a life outside of him, but maybe Clay needs a life outside of you as well.”
Shit…why hadn’t he thought about that? In so many ways, Clay had stopped living when Gordon passed away. He was getting his life back; he likely needed to reconnect with friends as well. Do things he enjoyed outside of tattooing, welding…and, well, Dylan.
“You’re a genius, Troy!”
“I try hard,” he replied before biting into a tortilla chip.
They finished their lunch, and afterward, Dylan went to Renée’s real-estate office. He caught her just in time, as she only had about ten minutes before she had to leave to show a home.
“I was just thinking…Clay doesn’t have anyone in his life other than you and me. We went out with some friends of mine the other day, and I just… I wonder if he needs that too.”
“Oh, he most definitely does. Clay would have cut every single person out of his life if not for the fact that I wouldn’t allow him to cut me out. It was hardest on William and Scott. They were close friends of his and Gordon’s. They went on this gay cruise together once—first one Clay had been on, of course. I was shocked he went, but he had fun. The four of them used to spend a lot of time together.”