Gray snorted, making me feel like I had toexplain it more. “He’s been busy this week, and I didn’t want to put anythingelse on his plate. He’s a worrier, and the idea seemed to make him nervous.”
“Nervous because you work in a tattoo placewith needles and creepy things, or nervous because he’s not sure if you’ve toldanyone else about him and he doesn’t know how people will react?” Gray didn’teven have to pause before the question popped out.
Hmm.
“He knows I’m not in the closet. We’vetalked about that.” In vague and more specific terms as well. I wasn’t sure ifthe analogy of being in the closet was the right way to explain it or not.Being oblivious wasn’t the same as keeping things private.
“But there’s a difference between beingwilling to hold his hand in public and introducing him to friends andcoworkers.” He said it like it was obvious, but I wasn’t sure it made sense.
“No, there’s not. Why would there be?”
Gray laughed, but it had a sour ring to it.“There is. Trust me.”
Something in his voice made me want toreach out and give him a hug. I had to settle for something less tangible,though. “I’m sorry, man.”
“Not your fault, but let’s just say thatsome guys who are still trying to figure things out don’t make the bestdecisions.” The sadness that was threaded through the words made it hard toknow what to do. I wanted to let him know I was here for him, but I didn’t wantto push him if he didn’t want to talk about it.
“I’m not going to be that guy. I respectLane, and I want things to work out between us. It doesn’t matter what otherpeople say.” I could understand how people in different situations felt thatopening up to friends and coworkers might be difficult. However, my situationwas different. I didn’t need the tattoo shop income to live, and if I was beinghonest, Stan couldn’t run things without me. So the chances of him being an asswere slim to none, no matter what he personally thought.
“Then make sure Lane understands that and don’texpect him to read your mind.” I could almost see Gray rolling his eyes. “Hemight be waiting for you to say something. Just look at things from his pointof view. He might be really nervous to take you to work. If he’s the insecuretype, he might be thinking of all the other hot guys that work there, and if he’sstill nervous about how you feel with the wholejust realizing you’re bithing,then he might not want to put you in an awkward position.”
“Maybe.” I still wasn’t sure. I hadn’t madehim guess about anything to do with my sexuality. At least, not that I wasaware of.
“Then maybe he’s just shy about you seeinghim nearly naked in front of other people. Bringing his boyfriend into asituation like that would have to be weird. He’s not one of the models whoflirts and blatantly shows off how sexy he is in every picture.”
I snorted. “You’ve been browsing aroundthat site entirely too often, haven’t you?”
Gray laughed. “I should probably plead thefifth on that, but yeah. It’s your fault. You showed it to me.”
“No, I told you where my boyfriend works. Ididn’t say to stalk him and all his friends online.” I was not that kind ofguy.
He tried to sound innocent. “I’m notstalking. I’m helping you analyze your relationship.”
“I’m not sure looking at my boyfriend halfnaked falls in that category.”
Gray snickered. “I’m sure it does. I bethe’s really grateful that you’re not the jealous type.”
Had I mentioned that to Lane?
Suddenly I wasn’t sure. I knew I’d told himthat I didn’t have an issue with his job, but had I gotten more specific? Okay,maybe there was a valid reason why Lane hadn’t invited me to work. “Would it bea bad thing if I invited myself?”
“To his work in general or to one of thephoto shoots?”
“A photo shoot. I want there to be noquestion in his mind that I support him, and I don’t have an issue with it. Ithink that would also be the best way to meet his friends in their naturalenvironment.”
Gray nearly giggled. “They’re not wildanimals.”
“Oh no, you haven’t met Eli.”
“Which one is he?”
“The one who’s clearly begging thephotographer to fuck him. He’s a handful.” And I’d only met him in public.
“You know, he might just be nervous aboutyou meeting his friends. If they’re that unique, they’ve probably been drivinghim crazy.”
Like Gray had me. “Okay, that’s probably agood point too.”
“I say just go for it. Figure out what hisschedule looks like for the next couple of days and see when you can stop inunexpectedly. Get there just in time so that you’re not disrupting the actualphoto shoot but where he doesn’t have the ability to shoo you away.”
