Home>>read Hard Tail free online

Hard Tail(44)

By:J.L. Merrow


I waved it away with a smile. "It was great. My arse took a bit of a pounding, though, going over all those tree roots." I rubbed the area in question, wincing theatrically.

There was a warm breath on the back of my neck, and I turned to see Adam behind me. "Y'll get used to it," he said with an odd look on his face.

"Oh, yes, I'm sure I will-if you don't mind me coming back out next week," I said, my gaze sweeping the group.

There was a general chorus of yeah, course, glad to have you, mate. Adam leaned in again. "Y' c'n come out any time y' want."

I smiled, pleased to find all Matt's mates being so friendly.

We hung around chatting for a long while before Matt announced he had to be off, which seemed to be the general signal to start dismantling bikes and bunging them in cars, or simply hanging them on cycle racks and driving off, as the case might be.




 

 

I watched Matt's old Ford Focus tootle off with a dull ache of regret.





Chapter Twelve




My legs were a bit stiff as I hobbled downstairs Friday morning, and I nearly tripped over the cat. "Kill me and you don't get fed," I warned him. Wolverine gave a solemn miaow to show he understood. Or maybe it was just feline for "Hah! Your corpse will keep me going for weeks."

I felt good, though. I'd been out like a light the minute I'd got into bed last night, and if I'd dreamed, my subconscious was keeping the details strictly to itself. I felt refreshed, energised and ready to face whatever the day might throw at me.

Which, of course, it promptly did, just as soon as I'd got in the shop and opened up for the day.

"Er, Tim?" Matt's voice was diffident, almost nervous. "Do you mind if I take tomorrow off? I'll make sure I've done all the repairs that are supposed to be getting picked up. It's just, I never used to work Saturdays, before, and Steve's getting a bit pissed off about it. He wants to go down to Brighton tonight, and we won't get back until really late."

"Oh-yes, of course," I said, trying not to let my disappointment show. It hadn't occurred to me that Matt might have increased his hours since Jay's accident-but of course, Jay would have done some of the repairs too, as well as all the behind-the-counter stuff. "Wouldn't want to be the cause of any domestics." Matt gave me a startled look. Great. I'd put my foot in it again. "Not that you'd-anyway, that's fine. I'll be fine."

Far from being reassured, Matt looked like he wished he'd never asked. "Are you sure? 'Cause I could always-"

"No! No, I'll be fine. You go and have fun."

"Right." Matt looked more like I'd said "You go and lie down on that rack there, and I'll fetch the thumbscrews." "Thanks," he added unconvincingly and scuttled off out back.

I felt flatter than a deflated inner tube. Okay, so a lot of my time in the shop was spent with Matt in a different room, but he was still there. Tomorrow I'd be all alone. No one to talk to; no one to bring me lunch …

Damn. Quite apart from missing Matt personally, I'd got rather used to having at least one decent meal a day.

My depression lifted, however, as it suddenly occurred to me what a golden opportunity this was. With Matt being whisked away for a dirty weekend in Brighton there was absolutely zero chance of bumping into him if I decided to, let's say, investigate the gay scene this evening.

Just as an observer, obviously. I certainly wasn't planning on trying to pull. I just wanted to dip a toe into the water; that was all. Definitely not any other part of my anatomy-no matter how much it might perk up at the very idea. As a couple of customers mooched in, I was glad to be firmly behind the counter at this point. 

Anyway, it was a perfect opportunity to test the waters without risking it getting back to my family-and one that might not come my way again for a while, I realised. Thank God for Russell opening my eyes to the possibilities.

***

Back home that evening, I switched on the computer to Google the places Matt had mentioned. I wasn't sure I could cope with cruisey, so I was about to type in El Niño-then I remembered that was apparently Luke's favourite haunt. Luke was one person I did not want to run into when I took my first bumbling steps towards a pinker lifestyle. Cruisey it would have to be. My heart gave a little flutter of excitement at the thought of being cruised-and yes, all right, so did my prick.

There weren't any pictures of the interior of the Cock online, just one of the outside, from which I could tell absolutely nothing. It definitely said it was a gay pub on the website, though-and even promised a drag act on Saturdays. Fortunately, today was Friday. I didn't think I was anything like ready for that level of camp just yet.

I spent the best part of an hour worrying about what to wear. Anything too tight, too sparkly, or designed to show off the nipple piercings I didn't, in fact, have was definitely out, but then neither my wardrobe nor Jay's contained anything remotely like that in any case. It still left the question of whether to dress up or down. On the whole, I decided, down was probably safer. I might end up looking like a straight guy who'd wandered in by mistake, but that'd be way better than having obviously made an effort and still got it embarrassingly wrong. So I kept the jeans and changed the shirt I'd been wearing all day for an only slightly smarter but, more to the point, fresher one.