Page 5 of Back to You

He has every right to be, Ethan thought. Even his weekends had been taken up by preparing briefs and strategy meetings. He flat out could not remember the last time he’d spent any quality time with his boyfriend. Hell, he couldn’t even figure out when they last had sex. Could it really be months?

“Oh Christ,” he muttered, shaking his head. And he wondered, as he had lately, if any of this was worth it if he lost Brandon.

He went back to his work, hoping maybe he could get free and meet Brandon at the show. It had been ages since they went out together.

As if sensing that Ethan was thinking of having a shred of a social life, one of the firm’s partners, Nathan Cartwright, strode into his office.

“Thompson, good, you’re still here. Can you get me your notes on the Smithson case?”

“Ah, sure, I haven’t typed them up, though.”

Cartwright frowned. “Hm, can you do that real quick? I really need them tonight. I’ll be here for a while though.”

Ethan sighed internally as he kissed his tentative plans goodbye. “No problem, I’ll get right on it.”

***

Brandon stood in the back of the bar, propped against the wall with a beer and a scowl. He’d promised Marcus he would attend his show, but that didn’t mean he had to enjoy it. The music was good, don’t get him wrong.

But the people … ugh.

Ironically for someone who owned a business focused on customer service, Brandon was not a fan of people. This was not a shock to anyone.

Despite his general air of “don’t fuck with me,” Brandon had already been hit on twice by drunk college girls. He’d tried to be gentle when letting them down, but both had run away pretty quickly, now that he thought about it.

A college bar, Marcus? Ugh. Brandon felt like a huge creeper even being there. It was never a good look when a random guy in his 30s is lurking in the back of a college bar. He’d already gotten his share of dirty looks. Most of the looks faded in the face of his glare.

I’m going to get the cops called on me, Brandon thought. Oh well. He was all for new experiences.

“Hey Brandon,” Marcus said, wiping his face with a towel. “What do you think of the show so far?”

“Y’all sound good,” Brandon said. “I really like what you’ve done on your Mumford & Sons cover.” He slanted his friend a look. “College bar, huh?”

“Hey, a gig is a gig. We’d play kiddie birthday parties if they had money.”

Marcus played guitar in a local rock band, in addition to working at the cafe. It wasn’t a serious thing — all the band members either had full-time jobs or were in school. At 30, Marcus was one of the older band members. Brandon liked to go to shows when he could to support his friend and employee.

Brandon cringed when he saw a gaggle of college girls making eyes at Marcus. “Jesus, please tell me you aren’t trolling for co-eds.”

“Nah, they’re cute but it’s just icky at my age trying to date college kids.”

“Who are you up to these days?”

Marcus snorted. “No one in particular. You know I’m not much for dating and stuff. Speaking of better halves, where is yours?”

“Where is he always?” Brandon took a swig of beer to wash the bitter taste out of his mouth.

Marcus frowned and checked the time. “At 11 o’clock? Damn.”

“Yeah, I wish I could say this was the record. He usually gets home when I’m asleep these days.”

“That … can’t be doing anything good for your relationship,” Marcus said tentatively. Much like Michelle, Marcus wasn’t one for talking about feelings.

“Yeah. Anyway. Enough about my bullshit. Y’all have another set coming up?”

Marcus got excited telling him about the original song they had coming up in their next and final set. Brandon just heard that the show was almost over and cheered up. He was tired.

Brandon, Michelle and Marcus worked full time — or close to it in Michelle’s case — during the week. On the weekends, they had two part-timers who handled the shop, using pastries Brandon had baked ahead of time. Brandon usually wouldn’t stay out this late on a Thursday. He was old now and had been up since 4. He couldn’t party like a college kid anymore. It said a lot about his friendship with Marcus that he’d stayed up so late past his bedtime.

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