A/N: Reviews for our struggling straight boy and the sweet Keith! :D -DL
Chapter 3
Riley sipped at his beer and glanced nervously around the bar. He had to look away hurriedly when he spotted two guys making out enthusiastically in a corner. Just what he didn't want to watch, two guys sucking faces! he heard a soft chuckle, and looked over to see Keith grinning at him. "Now you know how we feel when we see hetero couples making out in public," he remarked.
Riley blinked. He'd never thought of it that way. But why wouldn't gay people find PDAs by straight couples as uncomfortable to watch as straight couples found gay couples' PDAs? He cleared his throat a little. "I suppose it's okay," he said hoarsely. "As long as they're not..."
"Having sex out in the open?" Keith said shrewdly.
"Yeah," that's what he'd expected to see in a gay bar. He should be pleasantly surprised that there were only a couple of guys kissing, rather than all-out orgies taking place in the middle of the room.
"Don't worry, I'd never take you to a place where that kind of thing happens," Keith assured him. "Because I don't like them either, as I said before. This is more my kind of place - a laid-back hang-out where I can come to unwind after work and have a drink or two. Because the kind of guys that are drawn to this place are my kind of men, anyway. I've met more than one of the guys' that I've dated right here, in fact."
Riley listened to this statement with mixed emotions. Somehow, hearing about other men that Keith had dated made a weird tightening happen in his belly. He didn't like hearing that, not at all. His fingers tightened on the long neck of his beer bottle as he realized that what he was feeling was something very like jealousy, and that wasn't good. Not good at all. He didn't have the right to be jealous of the other men in Keith's life, not when he wasn't dating the man or sleeping with him either. He was straight, Riley reminded himself severely. Totally straight. He simply had to get over this weird aberration, and get on with his life of dating and sleeping with women.
"Speak of the Devil," Keith said, making him look up. The blonde was looking at someone out of his line of sight.
Riley turned on his barstool and saw a man walking toward them. He was fairly tall and good-looking, with smooth brown hair and smiling blue-grey eyes. "Hey, Keith," he said in a pleasant voice. "Long time no see."
"Hey, Neal," Keith replied, getting up off his barstool and stepping forward. He stood a little on tiptoe and lightly kissed the man on the mouth, making Riley stiffen on his barstool. "How's it going?"
"Not bad. You're looking good," the man said, looking Keith over appreciatively. "As beautiful as ever," he added charmingly.
"You flatterer," Keith patted his chest affectionately, and Riley's fingers tightened hard enough on his beer bottle that it was a wonder that it didn't break. "And you're as handsome as ever. Have you been breaking hearts in all directions since we broke up?"
The man named Neal shrugged. "I've dated a few guys, but none of them were you," he said quietly to Keith.
Keith's shoulders stiffened. Riley saw them do so, because he was staring at the blonde's back. "Oh, Neal, I want you to meet my new guy," he said with a note of false gaiety in his voice. "This is Riley O'Shea," he added, turning around and waving a hand at a stunned Riley. "Riley, this is Neal Barret, an old friend of mine," his eyes were desperately trying to communicate with Riley, begging him to go along with whatever this was.
"Nice to meet you, Neal," he said neutrally.
The other man was looking him over. "So you're Keith's new man? You've got a good one here, Riley. I hope you don't take him for granted," he said.
"I'll try not to," Riley replied coolly.
"Do you want to have a drink with us, Neal?" Keith asked, though his voice was almost emotionless.
Neal shook his head. "I'll pass this time, Keith. Maybe next time. I came to meet some friends; I should get over there," he waved a hand at a table nearby where some men were sitting. "But it was really nice to see you," he went on. "And to meet you, Riley," he added, with only a trace of tightness in his voice.
"And it was nice to meet you, Neal," Riley remarked, his voice still cool.
Neal's eyes went from Keith's face to Riley's, then he shrugged slightly, smiled a bit, and walked away toward the table where his friends were waiting.
Keith turned back to him. Riley saw his shoulders relax visibly. "Thank you, Riley," he breathed as he stepped close. "Neal's a great guy, but he was always more serious about me than I was about him. He wanted me to move in with him, and he wanted us to get married, the whole nine yards. All I wanted was to have a nice, casual relationship with him, and I finally broke up with him when I saw that I was going to end up hurting him if I didn't. I wasn't ready for commitment, and Neal wasn't the right one, anyway. I like him - I've always liked him - but I never loved him. Not the way he did me."
"That's rough," Riley said sympathetically as Keith sat back down on his barstool. "Is that why you told him that I'm your boyfriend?"
Keith nodded. "I could see that he was working up to asking me out again, which he does periodically. He wants to get back together, and there are only two ways that I can get him to back off. One would be to tell him bluntly why I broke up with him in the first place, and I don't want to hurt him that way. So I chose the other, letting him know that I have a new man so he'll back off. I want him to find somebody else, to move on...to be happy. Maybe now that he thinks I have someone else he'll finally do so. He deserves somebody really special who loves him with all of his heart, not somebody who likes him but that's it."
Riley considered what he'd said. "Maybe we should put on a show for him, then?" he asked. "To really convince him that you're over him and that you've moved on?"
Keith shot him a surprised sideways look. "What do you mean?"
What DID he mean? What was he doing?! Riley decided to stop thinking. he leaned over and bent his head, while part of his brain squalled in straight-boy terror over his actions, and covered Keith's mouth with his own. Those pink lips tasted as soft and sweet as he'd imagined that they must, and they parted easily to admit his tongue. A soft moan made him extremely uncomfortable in his jeans, and he deepened the kiss instinctively even as he reached to cup the side of Keith's head. No matter that he was kissing another guy; this felt right, natural, and so very, very good...he didn't care about any objections his brain might have right at this moment. His body knew what it wanted, and other parts of him were overriding his brain completely.
He finally pulled away a bit, and Keith stared at him with open mouth and glazed eyes. "Wow," he husked. "Why'd you do that, Riley?"
He didn't know. But right at this moment, he didn't care, either. "I'm just making it look real for Neal," he breathed, which was his ostensible reason for kissing Keith. "If he thinks you're really into me, maybe he'll go and find that guy you want for him. Right?"
Keith's eyes were starting to focus again. He nodded a little, his lips curving in a small smile. "Thank you for being so sweet and understanding, Riley," he breathed. "I know how hard it is for you to kiss another guy. You're the best."
He wasn't. He really wasn't. All he wanted right now was to push Keith down on the shiny floor and have his way with the blonde right here and now in the bar. For whatever reason, he really, really wanted Keith Hendrickson. It didn't matter that he was another guy. Riley's body didn't care, not in the least. He wanted to bury himself in hot tightness and revel in Keith. He wanted what he'd had in that dream(that probably wasn't a total dream, anyway, but him dreaming about what had really happened the night that he and Keith had had sex). That heat, that lust, that amazing sex that was almost too much to bear...he sighed, leaning back on his barstool instead. "I'm just helping out a friend," he replied in as steady a voice as he could manage at the moment.
Keith's smile widened. "So we're friends now?" he asked softly.
Riley found himself smiling as well. "I guess we are," he replied simply.
Keith had gone to the bathroom. he returned, sliding down on the barstool next to Riley. "I think it worked," he said softly to Riley. "Neal's busy talking to a guy I don't know, and they really look like they're hitting it off. he barely glanced at me when I walked by. Thanks again for kissing me. I really appreciate it."
Riley shrugged. "You can return the favor sometime," he replied.
Keith giggled. "I'm not sure how, but definitely if something comes up," he said lightly. "Have I told you that you're a GREAT kisser? You really knocked my socks off."
He lifted his shoulders in a mixture on embarrassment and masculine pleasure at this compliment. "I just thought that we should make it look as realistic as possible, to convince Neal that I'm actually your boyfriend."
"Well, you did a great job. Don't take this the wrong way, but, damn, I wish you were gay!"
"Thanks. I really wish you were a girl," Riley replied with a crooked smile.
“Honey, right at this moment, so do I,” Keith said with a sigh and a shake of his head. "It's funny how life is sometimes, huh? I had an amazing night with this fabulous guy, then in the morning I find out he's straight and freaking out about sleeping with a guy. SO not fair! You meet so many jerks, and pervs, and assholes, and then when you do meet somebody worthwhile..." he sighed and took a sip of his drink glumly.
Riley sighed, too. "I know," he said. "I feel the same way about a lot of the women I've met. I think, honestly, that weird as it was that I slept with another guy, it was still the best sex I've had in ages."
Keith preened a little. "Thanks," he said, his eyes sparkling. "I'll accept the compliment."
Riley held his tongue, not suggesting that they repeat that night sometime soon. because no matter how much he wanted it, sleeping with Keith again would be a major mistake. He didn't want to hurt the man, and he might end up doing that if Keith started to get more serious about the whole thing than he was. Kind of like the situation that Keith had with Neal. For his own good, Keith had broken up with his old boyfriend. And for the same reason, Riley was going to remain friends and friends alone with Keith. That's just the way that it had to be.
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