Miguel tried not to be hurt. He understood that even though they’d talked about what happened and cleared the air, that didn’t mean Hector wouldn’t have lingering feelings of discomfort. Miguel figured he’d just keep quiet and let Hector work through it on his own.
At first, Miguel felt bad for basically chasing Hector out of his own home. But eventually, he forced himself to stop feeling guilty. Hector had said yes to the blow job. And if he wanted Miguel out of his place, all he had to do was say it. Miguel wasn’t going to feel bad, but he was starved for company. Now that he and Hector were barely speaking, he needed someone to socialize with or he was going to go crazy. He texted his friend Leon.
“Hey, boo! I’m bored. What’s popping tonight?” It only took a minute for his phone to chime with an incoming message.
“I don’t hear from you for weeks and you text me what’s popping? Nah, bitch.”
Miguel grinned. “I’m sorry. Hi, Leon. I miss you, honey love.” This time he got a smiley face followed by another message.
“That’s better. No plans. What are you trying to get into?”
“Something cheap.” Miguel typed. “I’m dead broke.”
“Your sugar papi cut you off?”
Miguel sat there, his thumb hovering over the phone. All he’d done when it first happened was send off a blast with his new phone number. He hadn’t mentioned the fight he’d had with Santos or the fact that he was currently living with Hector. He’d fill Leon in tonight. He didn’t want to get into everything that had gone down over text. For now, he typed a vague reply. “Pretty much.” He hit send.
“Okay. How about the Gator Pit? There’s no cover, and we can get one of those biker bears to buy our drinks.”
Miguel wrinkled his nose. That bar was rough and not to his usual tastes for hangout spots. But the no cover sold it. He was already going to have to pay an Uber to get him there since it didn’t make sense for Leon to come all this way to pick him up. “Okay.”
“See you in an hour.”
“Two hours, bitch! I have to make the magic happen. And I don’t live next door to that skeevy bar like you.” A middle finger emoji was Leon’s response.
Miguel grinned and got up to get ready. He sent another text, this time to Hector, letting him know he was going out so he wouldn’t wonder where he was when he got home.
“Have fun.”
The reply was a little terse, but he couldn’t get mad about it. Hector wasn’t his boyfriend so he wasn’t obligated to care about where he was going. Miguel shook his head. He refused to dwell on this anymore. He was going out to unwind. He queued up his party play list and turned the volume up. Then he danced his way into the kitchen to pour himself a pre-party drink.
Chapter 6
Two hours later, Miguel was shaking his ass on the dance floor. He’d met up with Leon, and they’d immediately hit the bar. Once they finished their first drink, they went to dance to the DJ’s club mix. Miguel planted his feet and arched his back, twerking along to the beat while Leon howled and pretended to spank him.
Miguel laughed at his friend and spun around. He put one hand on his head to hold his red snapback hat in place then got raunchy with it, rolling his hips. The beat changed, and Miguel dropped down into a squat, bouncing on his toes as he popped his butt back and forth. Leon put his leg out for Miguel to brace himself on. He stood above him, shaking his head back and forth, making his long, black dreads swing to the beat.
When the song ended and the music switched to something slow, Miguel stood back up. He and Leon gave each other a thumbs down. Neither of them wanted to dance to this. Leon leaned in and spoke into Miguel’s ear.
“Let’s get another drink.”
With a nod, Miguel agreed. He grabbed his friend’s hand and pulled him off the dance floor. They bumped into a few people on the way, but Miguel flashed smiles of apology. There weren’t any empty stools, so they leaned against the bar top as they got the bartender’s attention. Miguel went with a house beer since it was two-dollar draft night. As they waited for their drinks to arrive, Leon poked Miguel.
“What happened with you and Santos? I know something went down since you have a new phone number and no cash to flash.”
Miguel shrugged. “He thought it was cute to smack me around, so I left.” He deliberately downplayed what had happened. It was over, and he didn’t want to dwell on it, especially not tonight when he’d come out to have fun. And there was still the lingering embarrassment that he’d been in that situation.
Leon’s eyes popped open wide. “Holy shit. Are you okay? I mean obviously you’re okay because you’re here. But what the fuck?”
“Yeah.” Miguel huffed a laugh at Leon’s reaction. “I got my stuff and ran like a bitch.”
“Why didn’t you call me? You know you could have crashed at my place.” He leaned over to give Miguel a hug.
“It’s okay,” Miguel said after returning the embrace. “I’m staying with an old friend.”
“Who?”
“Hector.”