Along the way, all three of them get slipped personal info and the suggestion that they reach out anytime. So do I.
Mason greets us when we approach his studio, Adrian having already given him a heads up that we’d be around, and in typical Mason fashion, he makes quite the scene, whether it’s intentional or not. I’m not sure where the overlap lies between collectors of erotic paintings and fans of acoustic country rock, but we work to find them and get a few promises in return. We’re still riding those small highs when we step back onto the sidewalk, reorienting ourselves to something calmer just as Darren turns and nudges us back toward Mason’s window display.
“Hey, how about you go ahead and hit the next place without me? Or see if Mason has any other ideas about where we should go tonight? Or just go—anywhere? I’ll catch up with you in a minute.”
He hurries off, and Beau chuckles when he looks around at us. “How about we definitely donotdo any of that?”
“Is he okay?” Sebastian asks. “Everything seemed fine a second ago.”
I’m nodding already, fairly sure Darren’s fine, though the young woman he’s with now is a little less so. They’re about a block away from us and across the street, so there’s a limit to the detective work any of us can do from where we stand, even with a streetlight keeping them from the shadows. She’d been leaning against the stucco façade of an urgent care clinic until Darren wrapped her in his arms for a hug I shouldn’t envy, and because it lasts a while, I’d guess they’re talking, too. When hefinally pulls away, he wipes tears from her face and kisses the space left behind, making her smile in a way that’s probably cuter than it is pretty.
“Well, they’re close,” Adrian says, an unnecessary observation that settles nothing. “Do any of you know her?”
Riley shakes their head. “I’ve never seen her before.”
I shrug. Beau mumbles something. And Sebastian has another question. “Any chance it’s a girlfriend he hasn’t told you about?”
“No,” Beau and Adrian answer in unison, glancing at each other before Beau raises an eyebrow at me.
For what it’s worth, I think they’re right regardless of Darren’s willingness to hook up with a woman from time to time, but I’m not sure I’m the reason for it, and I raise my eyebrow right back. Any argument I could make aloud gets swallowed down, a private thing I don’t need to leave in a West Hollywood gutter.
Besides, Adrian cuts me off. “Maybe she’s the result of something that happened 20 years ago.”
“A daughter?” Riley huffs. “Anything’s possible, but I doubt it.”
She’s laughing now, evidence of Darren’s successful effort to bring her back from whatever had upset her. A second later, she’s looking over his shoulder at us, saying something from too far away for me to read her lips. I’ve got no hope of knowing what Darren is telling her either, but the conversation ends before I can think too hard about it, a young man stepping out of the clinic to join them.
Darren seems to know him too, though they nod a hello and stop short of the easy affection we’d witnessed a few minutesearlier.
“No, I don’t think that’s his son,” Riley murmurs.
I turn away from all of it before I can catch their goodbyes, Beau snagging my arm and pulling me close. There’s nothing he needs to say to me, and I think he knows that, simply holding me at his side when Darren returns.
“Let me guess,” he sighs. “Beau told you not to listen to a word I said.”
“Not sure any of us needed Beau to tell us what to do,” Adrian says.
Beau flips him off and stays next to me when he grins at Darren. “Who is she? We’ve got all sorts of guesses over here. Lover? Love child?”
“Her name is Sage.”
Darren starts walking again, waving for us to follow, and though all of us do, Beau isn’t ready to shut up about the mystery woman yet. Neither is Adrian, which isn’t much of a surprise to me, nor am I shocked by Riley’s silence. Sebastian is either taking cues from Riley, or he feels out of place enough to opt for the safest way past this, and I respect his decision either way.
As for me, I’m on Darren’s side. I also really want to know more about Sage.
The subject changes eventually, Darren giving up nothing about something that clearly matters to him, and everyone caught up in more of the flirting and fun that comes with new conversations we start. There’s near constant touching among most of us and the strangers we meet, the casual closeness ofcommunity spilled onto these sidewalks for anyone open to it. Riley has taken my place next to Beau as an easy way to avoid most of what the rest of us are ready to embrace, but there’s an unspoken question in their eyes because I’m not usually this eager to attract the attention of men I don’t know.
Tonight, I think I want the attention of everyone, and I couldn’t say why.
“You okay?”
I startle at Darren’s question, and then again when his hands are at my waist, pushing my larger body backward until I hit a wall and inadvertently moan. A quick look around tells me we’re outside a record store, our friends probably inside while Darren steals a quick and dirty kiss from me here.
“Yeah, my mind was just wandering a little,” I tell him.
“Your hands, too. You’re having fun tonight.”
It’s not an accusation, especially when I could say the same about him, so I cover his grip with mine and tilt my head. “Do I get to know anything else about Sage?”