Page 42 of Refraction

Cold didn’t begin to describe it. Lord, he’d have to leave the water dripping tonight, he’d bet. Did folks do that in the city?

The chill seemed to give Calvin more energy. “Have you wandered around at all? There’s tons of choices. There are a couple of Italian places, sushi, a bunch of neat Irish pubs…. I don’t know what’s closest.” Calvin’s gloved hand took his.

“I haven’t left. I’ve been working. You choose whatever you’d like. I want to hear all about your shoot.”

“Okay. Then I want a hamburger.” They joined a group of people waiting on the corner to cross the street, and Calvin led him into the crowd when the light changed. “The shoot went well. It was long, and I’m pretty wiped. I got home around nine last night, and I slept all day.”

“That’s a ton of work, for sure.” Did that mean he shouldn’t offer to let Calvin spend the night or he should? They didn’t have to do anything. He could just hold Calvin, but maybe that was wrong.

“Ever been to Times Square?” Calvin looked at him. “If not, keep your eyes open when we turn the corner up here.”

“They’re open. Promise.” Even though what he wanted to look at was Calvin.

Another half a block and then Calvin was tugging him around the corner and right out into what seemed like the middle of the street. Up in front of them was the tall, narrow tower that Tucker had seen on TV on New Year’s Eve a couple of times, the crystal ball sparkling and reflecting all the light from below.

“I love all the screens and the electronic billboards. That’s the New York Times Building, by the way.”

“That’s stunning.” He couldn’t even imagine the amount of work to make that all function. Lord, there had to be a crew and a half.

“Yeah.” Calvin took his arm. “I love all the color, and the whole bright chaos of it.” Turned out they weren’t in the middle of the street really—the street was closed and people were coming and going, crisscrossing and weaving around one another like it was a sidewalk. “Come on, I’ll get you out of this crowd.”

“Okay. It’s busy. All the people.” Like birds. Flocking. “It’s pretty cool, really.”

He let Calvin steer him across to the far sidewalk, and from there they walked a couple more blocks up what he discovered was Broadway, after squinting at one of the street signs. It was chilly still, but the wind wasn’t quite as evil headed in this direction.

“Pub,” Calvin told him, pointing to a green awning jutting out from one of many gray buildings.

“Perfect. Burgers. Beer.” He held the door open for Calvin. He was going to feed Calvin and hope he got to hold his lover tonight.

“I’m so in. Oh, warm.” Calvin hurried inside.

A cute redhead ushered them right to a tall table and set menus down for them.

“I am starving.” Calvin opened his menu.

“I can imagine. You want a burger, you said.” He looked at the menu, the thought of Guinness stew actually working for him. Warm, filling, spicy—he was into it.

“Long shoots make me hungry. I’ll hit the gym tomorrow. Will you share fries with me?”

“Of course. There’s nothing about crunchy potatoes that I don’t love.”

That made ordering easy, and once their beers arrived, Calvin was smiling and chatty. “So my friend Zoe was at my second set on Monday and came back Tuesday for a group thing. Practically naked for the first, completely clothed for the second—that was new. We always have a blast together. She’s exactly my height, she has blonde hair that’s way down to her butt when she straightens it, and she’s totally shameless. We are all over each other in underwear shoots. Photographers love us.”

“I bet.” Tucker could appreciate shameless. It was a rare but wonderful quality in a person. “I imagine your job can be damn near impossible with someone you don’t like.”

He pondered the visual of Calvin and a long-haired girl, but he’d have to see her face; otherwise it came out with fangs, and that seemed mean, to demonize Calvin’s friend. A little fun, maybe, but tacky.

Huh. He’d have to explore that whole thought. Jealousy was a bitch of a master, and he didn’t intend to bring it to bed.

“It can be awkward, because this business is drowning in egos. But it’s not impossible. Usually people are at least respectful. If not, I just use the crappy energy to perform better. Pissed off is hot on camera. At the end of the day, I just want my paycheck.” Calvin sipped his beer. “Mmm. That’s good. I almost never drink beer.”

“Pissed off is hot on camera.” Okay, there were good thoughts there. Tucker painted a lot of fear and need, but not angry. He didn’t love that headspace. Still….

Focus, Tucker.

He smiled at Calvin, letting himself just be right here for a second. “So, it sounds like a good couple days of work. Congrats. Where will the pictures go?”

“Well, kind of all over the place. On Monday, I did a catalog shoot, so those will go to print. I also did some internet advertising stuff, which could end up anywhere online. Um…. Tuesday morning was all for Michael. He’s putting together a portfolio thing for a big Calvin Klein gig. That was really tiring, actually. He was really picky, and I don’t even get paid for that. And then Tuesday afternoon was print catalog stuff with a bunch of people, and that was fun. I was even mostly clothed for a lot of it.”

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