Toby rolled his eyes. This was downright pathetic.
“Don’t worry. I couldn’t care less what Brad does. But I am curious about a few things.” He glanced at the flower vase.
“Does he bring you flowers all the time?” Maybe Brad did have at least one redeeming quality.
Richie waved his arm. “Hell no,” he said. “He doesn’t bringmethe flowers. I bring the flowers. Brad is way too important and too busy to have time to think about flowers.
You have to understand those things when you’re with a busy man like Brad. I get them at a small grocery store on the way over. And, to be honest, I don’t really bring them for Brad. I sort of bring them here for you as a thank you for letting us use the apartment. That’s why I make sure the place is always clean and perfect. I feel funny about it sometimes. I know we’re intruding.”
When Richie said this, Toby’s head went up. It hadn’t occurred to him that Richie was the one bringing the flowers, or that he was bringing them for Toby. He didn’t seem like the type of guy who even noticed flowers. a pleasant feeling passed through Toby’s entire body. “Ah well, thank you. I have to admit that I do enjoy seeing them when I come home. In fact, if my arrangement with Brad stopped the flowers would be the one thing I’d miss about the entire situation.” He’d miss the way Richie made things look so nice, too. And the way Richie made the bed. But he decided it wouldn’t be proper to mention that.
Richie shrugged and he glanced at the TV. Ethel Merman, Ed Sullivan’s guest that night, was belting out an annoying show tune and Richie started tapping his foot.
Toby sat back and pretended to watch TV. But he was really looking at Richie, trying to figure out how such a decent guy could wind up with a dirty-rotten-cheatingbottom-feeder like Brad Lindsay. At one point, he almost told Richie everything about Brad, from the young guys to the guy dressed as a woman. But he decided it was none of his business and he got up to use the bathroom instead. After Ed Sullivan, they watched a few more TV shows that weren’t very good. At eleven, Toby yawned and said, “I’m going to bed. This horrible sofa is killing my back.” Richie laughed. “It’s as hard as a rock. I know what you mean.”
Up until that point, Toby hadn’t considered the sleeping arrangements. And now that he’d mentioned how terrible the sofa was he felt guilty about making Richie sleep on it all night. It wasn’t much different from sleeping on the floor…except the floor didn’t have as many lumps. He yawned again; he stretched his arms as high as they would go. “If you’d like to sleep in the bedroom, I promise I’ll stay on my side and you can stay on your side. I’m not trying to get into your pants or anything. I swear.”
Richie glanced at the hard sofa and frowned. Then he rubbed his jaw and glanced up at Toby. “I guess that’s all right. But we’d better keep it our little secret. Brad might get the wrong idea. If he found out we slept in the same bed he might get crazy and do something. He’s very possessive of me. He told me that if I even so much as looked at another guy he’d beat the hell out of the guy.”
“He said that, did he?” Good old full of shit Brad. Toby couldn’t picture Brad beating anyone up. But he could picture Brad running away from a fight.
“Oh yes,” Richie said. “And he means it, too. Brad’s got it really bad for me and I don’t think he’d understand if he knew we slept together. Even it if is all innocent. So this will be our little secret.”
“I’ll remember that,” Toby said. “I’d hate to see poor, dear Brad get all upset about something that was so innocent.” He almost choked on his words.
Toby undressed in the bathroom and took a shower. By the time he came out, Richie was already sitting up in bed with the covers pulled up to his chest. Toby had forgotten to bring clean underwear into the bathroom. He didn’t own a bathrobe because he hated wearing them. He didn’t own pajamas either; he usually slept in the nude. He’d wrapped a large bath towel around his waist to cover his body so Richie wouldn’t get the wrong idea.
He sent Richie a nervous smile and said, “If you’ll turn out the light I’ll put on my underwear and get into bed.” He felt awkward changing in front of him with the light on. When Richie turned out the light, Toby stumbled across the dark room and stubbed his big toe on the dresser. He screamed and slammed his fist against the dresser. The towel fell and he bent down to lift up his foot. The pain shot from his big to all the way up to his back teeth.
Richie switched on the light and jumped out of bed. He ran to where Toby was hopping around. “Are you okay? Did you break something?” He placed his large hand on Toby’s back and bent down to look at his foot.
The pain was so fierce Toby was biting his bottom lip and wincing. He rubbed his toe and said, “I’m okay. I don’t think it’s broken. It just stunned me for a minute.” Then he lost his balance and fell backward into Richie.
They both landed on the bedroom floor. Richie started to laugh. He was pinned to the floor by Toby’s naked body and he couldn’t move. When Toby realized he was stark naked and the lights were on, he forgot all about his toe and jumped up as fast as he could. He yanked the top drawer open and pulled out a pair of boxer shorts. He put them on so fast he almost fell on top of Richie a second time. Richie got up and laughed all the way back to the bed.
He was wearing beige boxer shorts that looked a size too small and his dick was swinging back and forth. When Toby climbed under the covers, Richie was still laughing. By that time Toby’s face was warm and his toe was starting to throb. He pulled the covers up to his chin and said, “I’m glad you find this all so amusing. I could have broken my foot.” Richie wiped his eyes and said, “I’m sorry. You just looked so funny hopping around like that. And poor little Toby was bouncing around between your legs so much I was afraid he might fall off.”
Toby folded his arms across his chest and glared at Richie. He knew Richie was talking about his dick. “What do you mean ‘little Toby?’ For your information I’ve been told that I’m rather well endowed in that department. I know
I’m not a god; and I’m certainly not in the ranks of His Royal Highness, Brad Lindsay, but I’ve never had any complaints before.”
Richie couldn’t stop laughing. He reached out and grabbed Toby’s arm with one hand and pressed his palm to his stomach with the other. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. I swear I didn’t. I think little Toby is adorable. And he’s not small at all; he’s just the right size. Don’t get all mad and serious.”