Sparks and Gasoline Chapter 6
Title: Sparks and Gasoline: Chapter 6
Summary: Luke and Reid grew up together, but neither had liked the other. Reid moved away for college then, and Luke never saw him again. Sixteen years later, Luke is the editor in chief of the local newspaper, Oakdaily. When a corporation decides to take over Oakdale Memorial, Luke becomes suspicious and starts investigating. Then unexpectedly, Bob decides to retire and hire Reid Oliver to come back to town. Hijinks ensue as Luke is convinced Reid has something to do with the corruption and mystery. What will happen when sparks and gasoline meet?
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with ATWT.
Chapter 1: Chapter 1
Chapter 2: Chapter 2
Chapter 3: Chapter 3
Chapter 4: Chapter 4
Chapter 5: Chapter 5
Luke was exhausted, so he headed home. Not only was he physically tired, but the stress of his work and the constant tensions between him and Reid had taken its toll on his body.
He stepped into his apartment. He deposited the majority of his mail in the trash and his keys on the kitchen counter. He grabbed some vitamin water from his fridge and flung himself over the back of his couch.
He flipped the TV on and checked the dvr. Even the dvr hated him. He had no new taped shows, and every channel he flipped to had happy couples falling in love, making out, having sex, getting married, or making babies.
Frustrated he flipped the t v off, flung the remote on the coffee table and headed to take a shower.
It wasn’t his fault that Reid took up nearly every waking moment. If only Reid hadn’t come back and messed up the perfect balance he had achieved.
Luke stood under the warm water feeling the heat and constant pressure slowly work out some of the kinks in his neck and shoulders.
His mend wandered to Reid then almost of its own volition.
Even the mere thought of Reid caused Luke to start getting hard.
Luke sighed and braced his arms against the shower walls.
He hated feeling this way.
All he could see when he closed his eyes was Reid’s chiseled face, brilliant blue eyes, and stunning smile. He rarely got to see that smile, but when he did, it took all he had in him not to crush Reid’s lips to his own.
Damnit! Snap out of it, Luke!
But, no matter what Luke tried to focus on, his mind always wandered back to Reid. His mind and his body refused to cooperate with him.
Finally after a few minutes of hard resolve and cold water he gave up trying.
He was still achingly hard and now tenser than when he got in the shower.
He just didn’t care anymore. So he let his imagination take him wherever it felt like.
Obviously, his mind went to Reid.
He imagined Reid opening the shower curtain and stepping in to face him.
With eyes met, Reid slowly but surely made his way forward until he had Luke pinned up against the shower wall.
His arms went out to frame either side of his face.
He leaned in and whispered into Luke’s ear,
“Is this what you want?”
Luke could feel the warmth of Reid’s breath tickle his ear and the hairs on his arms stood on end.
He shivered slightly as he sees Reid’s eyes go from light blue to dark blue and burning with lust and passion.
“What do you mean?”
“Clearly you conjured me up for a reason.”
Luke turned his face then and stared into the deep ocean of Reid’s eyes.
Even if this was only a fantasy, he was going to make the best of it. Lord knows he needed it.
Lips were on lips then and Luke could feel Reid’s fingers pressing into his hips and stomach.
He could feel Reid’s hardness pressed into his own and he arches up to meet Reid’s movements.
Luke’s mouth was opened suddenly by Reid’s tongue and he gladly let Reid explore every part of it.
Reid’s mouth was gone then and Luke whined his desperation and disapproval.
But then Reid’s lips and tongue were moving farther and farther down his body, leaving a trail of saliva. He could feel every kiss, every touch to his toes which were curled on the floor of the shower.
Luke couldn’t remember the last time he felt like this, it had been years.
His head was swimming and he thought he was going to collapse.
But Reid was holding him up, and when Reid placed small feather like kisses on the insides of his thighs, Luke shudders.
Reid kissed in slowly, dragging out the sensation and torturing Luke.
Luke was trembling with anticipation, his hands already fisted in Reid’s hair.
Suddenly without warning, Reid’s mouth was on him and Luke managed a strangled cry.
Luke could barely form any thoughts as Reid was licking from base to tip and swallowing him over and over again.
Each time he did he gets more and more of Luke in, until finally Reid had him all the way in.
Then unlike anything Luke ever experienced in his life, Reid was doing something with his teeth and tongue.
He nearly came right there and then, but he wanted his fantasy to last. And when Reid put one of his hands in Luke’s mouth, he gladly worked on it, as a distraction. Reid removed the hand after a bit, and moved his hands to pull Luke even closer.
He was massaging his ass then and gently opening him. When Luke felt the first finger enter him he nearly fell over, but then Reid entered two more.
With each brush of the knuckles over his prostate, Luke could feel the pressure building and the tightening in his balls. When Reid moaned and added vibration to his cock it sent him over the edge.
He pulled Reid’s hair even tighter and finally released while groaning Reid’s name.
He nearly collapsed down the back of the wall, but Reid was holding him steady against the shower wall.
Reid slowly moved his body up Luke’s who could still feel how hard Reid is.
Luke moved to grab for Reid’s cock, but Reid just shook his head and said,
“I’m only here for your pleasure.”
Reid kissed Luke again and ran his fingers gently down Luke’s side.
It wasn’t until he felt the cold water stinging his face did Luke open his eyes.
He could see that he sprayed all over himself and the wall.
He cleaned the shower up and himself.
As he stepped out of the shower, he was in an even worse mood.
He thought giving in to the fantasy would get rid of it.
Instead he was hard again and even more exhausted.
He dragged himself to bed. As he lay there with thoughts of Reid and what he only give if he could just get him out of his mind.
He fell asleep unsatisfied and tense reliving the fantasy he had in the shower thinking if only it had happened, so he could get some damn sleep.
The next morning he woke up to a sunny, beautiful day. He decided to go visit his family. He hadn’t seen his siblings for a few weeks and he wanted to talk to his mom.
He stepped into his mother’s house to find out that Faith had a date, Natalie was a tap dance practice, and Ethan was spending the night at the farm with Meg and Eliza.
He said goodbye to Faith, and told her to keep her pants on.
He sat on the couch feeling sorry for himself, until he saw Faith’s laptop sitting on the coffee table.
He opened it up, and once he got past the Jacob and Bella screensaver he opened up the internet browser.
He had just googled a few poisons when he heard a knock at the door.
He opened the door, and his heart jumped when he saw who it was.
It was Reid.
“Damn, here I went thinking I would make a full week without having to see you. Three days Luke free was nice though.”
“If you came over to make fun of me, you can leave.”
“I didn’t you’d be here. Don’t you have your own place?”
“Yes, but I have this thing called a mother, and she likes when I visit her, unlike certain people I know.”
“I’m pretty sure your mother loves when I visit her. Anyways, coincidentally, I’m here to see your mother as well.”
“Well, she’s not back yet. I’ll let her know you stopped by.”
“If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather stay and wait for her. She did ask me to stop by.”
“Well feel free to wait on the porch then.”
Luke slammed the door in a shocked Reid’s face.
Luke went back to the computer then and started reading again.
He could hear Reid on the phone blasting his assistant for telling him the wrong time.
Luke just grinned, nothing like your enemy having to suffer.
Suddenly things were quiet and Luke got hopeful that Reid had left.
However, Luke’s luck was short. Within a few minutes Luke could hear talking very loudly.
He went to the window to see what Reid was doing.
Reid was sitting on the porch reading from sort of Medical Journal.
“Chronic anal fissure is a common and distressing problem which occurs with equal frequency in men
and women. The majority occur in the posterior midline below the dentate line extending up to the anal verge.”
“What the hell, Reid? Why are you reading a medical journal about anal fissures out loud?”
“Because it’s actually quite interesting and because I knew you’d hate it.”
Luke went back to his computer and turned on music to drown Reid out.
When all was quiet again he turned the music down.
“Hey Luke, can you get me something to drink? It’s really hot out here and I need to stay hydrated.”
“You’ll live.”
“Fine.” Reid then started to remove his shirt.
“You can’t undress on my mother’s front porch, Reid.”
“I’m not going to sit out in 90 degree weather without some sort of hydration or unless you let me in to the air conditioning. And if you give me liquids I will eventually have to urinate, and you’ll have to let me in anyways, unless you want me to get completely naked and urinate in your mother’s flower pots.”
Luke knew Reid well enough to know he wasn’t lying.
He opened the door then.
“For the sake of all Oakdale residents you can come in.”
Reid stepped around him and grinned cheekily at Luke.
Luke just rolled his eyes and went to grab some Lemonade.
When he walked back into the room, Reid was reading the pages he had up on Google.
This will be fun to explain.
“Untraceable poisons, huh? I should let you know that most poisons can be traced now. You’d be better at killing someone then burning them in a crematorium. Who’s going to look for a murder victim there? ”
“You’ve thought about this?”
“Clearly you have too, should I be worried?”
“I’m working on a story for the paper, but I can see how other people would want you dead.”
“Always so sweet, Luke. I don’t understand how you don’t have a husband. By the way, based on your notes, the poison you’re looking at is most likely hemlock.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s extremely fast moving and would lead to weakening of muscles in most organs, but the weakening of the heart muscles is what leads to heart failure. It’s often mistaken for wild carrots and people have eaten them on accident and died twenty minutes later. It’s a horrible poison. Most people are mentally aware until they die and can feel themselves dying. It’s cruel, slow, and painful.”
“Wow. How do you know so much about hemlock?”
“We had a case at my old hospital a few years ago. A really nice young man. Died alone from hemlock poisoning. I sat with him until he passed.”
“That’s horrible.”
“It truly is.”
Both were silent for a moment as they realized they actually had a serious conversation for the first time ever.
Reid finally broke the silence,
“So how does hemlock fit into your story?”
“I’m not sure yet. We’re waiting for the reports to confirm it was even hemlock.”
“So, what other information have you received?”
“Nothing else really. That’s why I was at the hospital the other day. Trying to get some sort of information.”
Reid picked up Luke’s case file.
“Amaria Middling. What an odd name.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well Amaria is Greek, and Middling is an Old English name. Usually you get a closer match on names based on where someone was born.”
“Maybe Middling is a married name?”
“Could be, just still an odd choice.”
Reid typed the name into Google.
No results came up.
“Are you sure that’s the name?”
“Yeah. That’s t he name Amber got from Alison Stewart.”
“Nurse Stewart knew the name of the nurse with no history?”
“Yeah, why?”
“It’s just odd. I mean Alison isn’t a surgical nurse, but according to your notes, Amaria was.”
“Why is that weird?”
“I’ve been at hospitals long enough to know that surgical nurses and registered nurses don’t usually hang out.”
“I just figured Ali looked up her name in the records.”
“But it says here that Ali specifically recalled seeing and talking to Amaria the night that Dr. Murdoch died.”
“I don’t know, Reid. I just got handed this information yesterday.”
“So, this is the big story you’re working on. Murder and intrigue at my new hospital?”
“Yep.”
“And you needed my help?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Why didn’t you ask the other night?”
“Because you left before I could.”
“Well, I’ll see what I can dig up on Amaria Middling tomorrow at work.”
“Thanks.”
Lily walked in the door then and grinned.
“How are my two favorite gay men?”
“Still gay.”
Lily just laughed at Reid.
“I’m so glad you could stop by. I’m sorry I’m late. I had a business meeting that ran late.”
“No problem. Luke and I were actually civil today.”
Lily threw a grin at Luke who rolled his eyes.
“So, do you want to see it now?”
“Sure.”
Luke’s ears perked up at that,
“See what, mother?”
“Oh, didn’t I tell you? I offered Reid a place to stay until he can find a proper home.”
“Where exactly is he supposed to stay?”
“You’re old room.”
“Mother, he can’t stay here!”
“Why not?”
“Because that means I have to see him every time I come over here. It’s bad enough having to run into him randomly.”
“Geeze, thanks, Luke.”
“Luke! You aren’t living here anymore. You have your own apartment. So you really have no say anymore. Just because you have a problem with Reid doesn’t mean anyone else in this family does. Just suck it up.”
Luke was pissed.
“You know, it’s one thing to take advantage of Bob Hughes and wheedle your way back into town, but it’s another thing to do that to my mother.”
“I am not a wheedler. I do not wheedle anywhere. All I know is that your mother was being polite and I decided to take her up on the offer, seeing as I’m staying in town and don’t want to live at the Lakeview anymore.”
Luke grabbed his things and slammed out of the house.
For a minute there he thought Reid might actually be human and have a heart, but he clearly didn’t.
Luke drove straight to Yo’s.
“Give your strongest drink.”
Suddenly a shot was in his hand.
He looked at it held it in his hands and smelled it.
Finally, after calming down he slid the drink away and ordered a soda.
He sensed someone sit down beside him and order a beer.
“Did you follow me here?”
“This time? Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother was afraid you would do something stupid.”
“I don’t need your pity or your charity, Reid. Leave me the hell alone.”
“I’m not going to do that, Luke.”
Luke slid his drink over to Reid.
“It’s soda. Taste it and see.”
“I can see that.”
“So clearly your intervention is not wanted or needed.”
“Why did you start drinking, Luke?”
“What?”
“Why did you start drinking?”
“There were a lot of reasons, most of which are unimportant now.”
“Did it have anything to do with me?”
Luke sighed and closed his eyes.
“I told myself it did. But really, I just liked the way it made me feel. Like I was stronger and better than who I actually was. Honestly Reid, it was over 15 years ago. I drank, I became an alcoholic, and I sobered up. I’ve been clean now for fourteen years without a single relapse. Tonight was the first time in years I even thought about alcohol.”
“I’m sorry, Luke.”
“I don’t want your sympathy, Reid.”
“I know.”
Luke stood up and paid for his drink.
He grabbed his jacket and headed out into the cool night air.
He looked back and saw Reid watching him.
Luke’s thoughts were a jumbled mess, but he couldn’t deal with anymore drama tonight and he refused to relive the events that led to his drinking.
So he went home, fell into bed, and dreamed of long island iced teas and whiskey sours.
Summary: Luke and Reid grew up together, but neither had liked the other. Reid moved away for college then, and Luke never saw him again. Sixteen years later, Luke is the editor in chief of the local newspaper, Oakdaily. When a corporation decides to take over Oakdale Memorial, Luke becomes suspicious and starts investigating. Then unexpectedly, Bob decides to retire and hire Reid Oliver to come back to town. Hijinks ensue as Luke is convinced Reid has something to do with the corruption and mystery. What will happen when sparks and gasoline meet?
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with ATWT.
Chapter 1: Chapter 1
Chapter 2: Chapter 2
Chapter 3: Chapter 3
Chapter 4: Chapter 4
Chapter 5: Chapter 5
Luke was exhausted, so he headed home. Not only was he physically tired, but the stress of his work and the constant tensions between him and Reid had taken its toll on his body.
He stepped into his apartment. He deposited the majority of his mail in the trash and his keys on the kitchen counter. He grabbed some vitamin water from his fridge and flung himself over the back of his couch.
He flipped the TV on and checked the dvr. Even the dvr hated him. He had no new taped shows, and every channel he flipped to had happy couples falling in love, making out, having sex, getting married, or making babies.
Frustrated he flipped the t v off, flung the remote on the coffee table and headed to take a shower.
It wasn’t his fault that Reid took up nearly every waking moment. If only Reid hadn’t come back and messed up the perfect balance he had achieved.
Luke stood under the warm water feeling the heat and constant pressure slowly work out some of the kinks in his neck and shoulders.
His mend wandered to Reid then almost of its own volition.
Even the mere thought of Reid caused Luke to start getting hard.
Luke sighed and braced his arms against the shower walls.
He hated feeling this way.
All he could see when he closed his eyes was Reid’s chiseled face, brilliant blue eyes, and stunning smile. He rarely got to see that smile, but when he did, it took all he had in him not to crush Reid’s lips to his own.
Damnit! Snap out of it, Luke!
But, no matter what Luke tried to focus on, his mind always wandered back to Reid. His mind and his body refused to cooperate with him.
Finally after a few minutes of hard resolve and cold water he gave up trying.
He was still achingly hard and now tenser than when he got in the shower.
He just didn’t care anymore. So he let his imagination take him wherever it felt like.
Obviously, his mind went to Reid.
He imagined Reid opening the shower curtain and stepping in to face him.
With eyes met, Reid slowly but surely made his way forward until he had Luke pinned up against the shower wall.
His arms went out to frame either side of his face.
He leaned in and whispered into Luke’s ear,
“Is this what you want?”
Luke could feel the warmth of Reid’s breath tickle his ear and the hairs on his arms stood on end.
He shivered slightly as he sees Reid’s eyes go from light blue to dark blue and burning with lust and passion.
“What do you mean?”
“Clearly you conjured me up for a reason.”
Luke turned his face then and stared into the deep ocean of Reid’s eyes.
Even if this was only a fantasy, he was going to make the best of it. Lord knows he needed it.
Lips were on lips then and Luke could feel Reid’s fingers pressing into his hips and stomach.
He could feel Reid’s hardness pressed into his own and he arches up to meet Reid’s movements.
Luke’s mouth was opened suddenly by Reid’s tongue and he gladly let Reid explore every part of it.
Reid’s mouth was gone then and Luke whined his desperation and disapproval.
But then Reid’s lips and tongue were moving farther and farther down his body, leaving a trail of saliva. He could feel every kiss, every touch to his toes which were curled on the floor of the shower.
Luke couldn’t remember the last time he felt like this, it had been years.
His head was swimming and he thought he was going to collapse.
But Reid was holding him up, and when Reid placed small feather like kisses on the insides of his thighs, Luke shudders.
Reid kissed in slowly, dragging out the sensation and torturing Luke.
Luke was trembling with anticipation, his hands already fisted in Reid’s hair.
Suddenly without warning, Reid’s mouth was on him and Luke managed a strangled cry.
Luke could barely form any thoughts as Reid was licking from base to tip and swallowing him over and over again.
Each time he did he gets more and more of Luke in, until finally Reid had him all the way in.
Then unlike anything Luke ever experienced in his life, Reid was doing something with his teeth and tongue.
He nearly came right there and then, but he wanted his fantasy to last. And when Reid put one of his hands in Luke’s mouth, he gladly worked on it, as a distraction. Reid removed the hand after a bit, and moved his hands to pull Luke even closer.
He was massaging his ass then and gently opening him. When Luke felt the first finger enter him he nearly fell over, but then Reid entered two more.
With each brush of the knuckles over his prostate, Luke could feel the pressure building and the tightening in his balls. When Reid moaned and added vibration to his cock it sent him over the edge.
He pulled Reid’s hair even tighter and finally released while groaning Reid’s name.
He nearly collapsed down the back of the wall, but Reid was holding him steady against the shower wall.
Reid slowly moved his body up Luke’s who could still feel how hard Reid is.
Luke moved to grab for Reid’s cock, but Reid just shook his head and said,
“I’m only here for your pleasure.”
Reid kissed Luke again and ran his fingers gently down Luke’s side.
It wasn’t until he felt the cold water stinging his face did Luke open his eyes.
He could see that he sprayed all over himself and the wall.
He cleaned the shower up and himself.
As he stepped out of the shower, he was in an even worse mood.
He thought giving in to the fantasy would get rid of it.
Instead he was hard again and even more exhausted.
He dragged himself to bed. As he lay there with thoughts of Reid and what he only give if he could just get him out of his mind.
He fell asleep unsatisfied and tense reliving the fantasy he had in the shower thinking if only it had happened, so he could get some damn sleep.
The next morning he woke up to a sunny, beautiful day. He decided to go visit his family. He hadn’t seen his siblings for a few weeks and he wanted to talk to his mom.
He stepped into his mother’s house to find out that Faith had a date, Natalie was a tap dance practice, and Ethan was spending the night at the farm with Meg and Eliza.
He said goodbye to Faith, and told her to keep her pants on.
He sat on the couch feeling sorry for himself, until he saw Faith’s laptop sitting on the coffee table.
He opened it up, and once he got past the Jacob and Bella screensaver he opened up the internet browser.
He had just googled a few poisons when he heard a knock at the door.
He opened the door, and his heart jumped when he saw who it was.
It was Reid.
“Damn, here I went thinking I would make a full week without having to see you. Three days Luke free was nice though.”
“If you came over to make fun of me, you can leave.”
“I didn’t you’d be here. Don’t you have your own place?”
“Yes, but I have this thing called a mother, and she likes when I visit her, unlike certain people I know.”
“I’m pretty sure your mother loves when I visit her. Anyways, coincidentally, I’m here to see your mother as well.”
“Well, she’s not back yet. I’ll let her know you stopped by.”
“If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather stay and wait for her. She did ask me to stop by.”
“Well feel free to wait on the porch then.”
Luke slammed the door in a shocked Reid’s face.
Luke went back to the computer then and started reading again.
He could hear Reid on the phone blasting his assistant for telling him the wrong time.
Luke just grinned, nothing like your enemy having to suffer.
Suddenly things were quiet and Luke got hopeful that Reid had left.
However, Luke’s luck was short. Within a few minutes Luke could hear talking very loudly.
He went to the window to see what Reid was doing.
Reid was sitting on the porch reading from sort of Medical Journal.
“Chronic anal fissure is a common and distressing problem which occurs with equal frequency in men
and women. The majority occur in the posterior midline below the dentate line extending up to the anal verge.”
“What the hell, Reid? Why are you reading a medical journal about anal fissures out loud?”
“Because it’s actually quite interesting and because I knew you’d hate it.”
Luke went back to his computer and turned on music to drown Reid out.
When all was quiet again he turned the music down.
“Hey Luke, can you get me something to drink? It’s really hot out here and I need to stay hydrated.”
“You’ll live.”
“Fine.” Reid then started to remove his shirt.
“You can’t undress on my mother’s front porch, Reid.”
“I’m not going to sit out in 90 degree weather without some sort of hydration or unless you let me in to the air conditioning. And if you give me liquids I will eventually have to urinate, and you’ll have to let me in anyways, unless you want me to get completely naked and urinate in your mother’s flower pots.”
Luke knew Reid well enough to know he wasn’t lying.
He opened the door then.
“For the sake of all Oakdale residents you can come in.”
Reid stepped around him and grinned cheekily at Luke.
Luke just rolled his eyes and went to grab some Lemonade.
When he walked back into the room, Reid was reading the pages he had up on Google.
This will be fun to explain.
“Untraceable poisons, huh? I should let you know that most poisons can be traced now. You’d be better at killing someone then burning them in a crematorium. Who’s going to look for a murder victim there? ”
“You’ve thought about this?”
“Clearly you have too, should I be worried?”
“I’m working on a story for the paper, but I can see how other people would want you dead.”
“Always so sweet, Luke. I don’t understand how you don’t have a husband. By the way, based on your notes, the poison you’re looking at is most likely hemlock.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s extremely fast moving and would lead to weakening of muscles in most organs, but the weakening of the heart muscles is what leads to heart failure. It’s often mistaken for wild carrots and people have eaten them on accident and died twenty minutes later. It’s a horrible poison. Most people are mentally aware until they die and can feel themselves dying. It’s cruel, slow, and painful.”
“Wow. How do you know so much about hemlock?”
“We had a case at my old hospital a few years ago. A really nice young man. Died alone from hemlock poisoning. I sat with him until he passed.”
“That’s horrible.”
“It truly is.”
Both were silent for a moment as they realized they actually had a serious conversation for the first time ever.
Reid finally broke the silence,
“So how does hemlock fit into your story?”
“I’m not sure yet. We’re waiting for the reports to confirm it was even hemlock.”
“So, what other information have you received?”
“Nothing else really. That’s why I was at the hospital the other day. Trying to get some sort of information.”
Reid picked up Luke’s case file.
“Amaria Middling. What an odd name.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well Amaria is Greek, and Middling is an Old English name. Usually you get a closer match on names based on where someone was born.”
“Maybe Middling is a married name?”
“Could be, just still an odd choice.”
Reid typed the name into Google.
No results came up.
“Are you sure that’s the name?”
“Yeah. That’s t he name Amber got from Alison Stewart.”
“Nurse Stewart knew the name of the nurse with no history?”
“Yeah, why?”
“It’s just odd. I mean Alison isn’t a surgical nurse, but according to your notes, Amaria was.”
“Why is that weird?”
“I’ve been at hospitals long enough to know that surgical nurses and registered nurses don’t usually hang out.”
“I just figured Ali looked up her name in the records.”
“But it says here that Ali specifically recalled seeing and talking to Amaria the night that Dr. Murdoch died.”
“I don’t know, Reid. I just got handed this information yesterday.”
“So, this is the big story you’re working on. Murder and intrigue at my new hospital?”
“Yep.”
“And you needed my help?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Why didn’t you ask the other night?”
“Because you left before I could.”
“Well, I’ll see what I can dig up on Amaria Middling tomorrow at work.”
“Thanks.”
Lily walked in the door then and grinned.
“How are my two favorite gay men?”
“Still gay.”
Lily just laughed at Reid.
“I’m so glad you could stop by. I’m sorry I’m late. I had a business meeting that ran late.”
“No problem. Luke and I were actually civil today.”
Lily threw a grin at Luke who rolled his eyes.
“So, do you want to see it now?”
“Sure.”
Luke’s ears perked up at that,
“See what, mother?”
“Oh, didn’t I tell you? I offered Reid a place to stay until he can find a proper home.”
“Where exactly is he supposed to stay?”
“You’re old room.”
“Mother, he can’t stay here!”
“Why not?”
“Because that means I have to see him every time I come over here. It’s bad enough having to run into him randomly.”
“Geeze, thanks, Luke.”
“Luke! You aren’t living here anymore. You have your own apartment. So you really have no say anymore. Just because you have a problem with Reid doesn’t mean anyone else in this family does. Just suck it up.”
Luke was pissed.
“You know, it’s one thing to take advantage of Bob Hughes and wheedle your way back into town, but it’s another thing to do that to my mother.”
“I am not a wheedler. I do not wheedle anywhere. All I know is that your mother was being polite and I decided to take her up on the offer, seeing as I’m staying in town and don’t want to live at the Lakeview anymore.”
Luke grabbed his things and slammed out of the house.
For a minute there he thought Reid might actually be human and have a heart, but he clearly didn’t.
Luke drove straight to Yo’s.
“Give your strongest drink.”
Suddenly a shot was in his hand.
He looked at it held it in his hands and smelled it.
Finally, after calming down he slid the drink away and ordered a soda.
He sensed someone sit down beside him and order a beer.
“Did you follow me here?”
“This time? Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother was afraid you would do something stupid.”
“I don’t need your pity or your charity, Reid. Leave me the hell alone.”
“I’m not going to do that, Luke.”
Luke slid his drink over to Reid.
“It’s soda. Taste it and see.”
“I can see that.”
“So clearly your intervention is not wanted or needed.”
“Why did you start drinking, Luke?”
“What?”
“Why did you start drinking?”
“There were a lot of reasons, most of which are unimportant now.”
“Did it have anything to do with me?”
Luke sighed and closed his eyes.
“I told myself it did. But really, I just liked the way it made me feel. Like I was stronger and better than who I actually was. Honestly Reid, it was over 15 years ago. I drank, I became an alcoholic, and I sobered up. I’ve been clean now for fourteen years without a single relapse. Tonight was the first time in years I even thought about alcohol.”
“I’m sorry, Luke.”
“I don’t want your sympathy, Reid.”
“I know.”
Luke stood up and paid for his drink.
He grabbed his jacket and headed out into the cool night air.
He looked back and saw Reid watching him.
Luke’s thoughts were a jumbled mess, but he couldn’t deal with anymore drama tonight and he refused to relive the events that led to his drinking.
So he went home, fell into bed, and dreamed of long island iced teas and whiskey sours.