Elliot glances back and forth between us, his thigh rubbing stopped. “Uh, what? Who? Am I missing something here …?”
Danny stares at me hard now. “Who haven’t you fucked from Denise’s party?”
I stare at Danny, struck by his harsh question.
“He didn’t fuck me,” clarifies Tim in a tiny voice, then adds: “I’m not really into butt stuff.”
Elliot raises his hand. “He hasn’t fucked me either, but I plan to change that by the end of the night, since I heard from both Antoine and Lee that Mr. Romeo here is legendary in the bedroom, and it’s been a minute since I’ve had someone take charge and bang me senseless. Apparently you’ve got this whole bad-boy thing going on? Is that true, Mr. Anti-Romantic Romeo?”
The more Elliot blabs on, the more I feel my plan crumbling to white-hot shreds of dumpster-fire regret in my hands. This seems all wrong suddenly. “Look, I’m not some kind of ‘bad boy’ who—”
“Seriously, Romeo,” he says, his voice low and deep as his hand slides further up my leg and gives it a suggestive squeeze, mere inches from my cock, “I wish I could just make out with you right now, but I have a thing about the back seats of cabs …”
“What’s stopping you?” asks Danny rather curtly, picking up every word—and every squeeze of this man’s hand on my leg.
“Um … the present company, for one,” starts Elliot, adopting a sudden attitude.
“Don’t worry about me one bit. I’m sure Romeo here will meet all of your expectations.” Danny’s body is so tense, I feel like I’m sitting next to an iron-plated wall. “Apparently I don’t know my friend as well as I thought. He’s got … quite a lot of experience in making people either feel really good—or feel like shit. Isn’t that what an anti-romantic ‘bad boy’ is supposed to do?” He leans forward and taps on the driver’s seat. “Excuse me, sir.”
The plan is over. Called off. Done. “Danny, I—”
“Please pull over and let me out.”
“Danny, wait.”
The cab quickly pulls to the curb. Out Danny goes.
“Just let him go,” says Elliot as I stare after Danny, shocked. “He seems a bit wound up tight, anyway. We’ll probably have more fun without him. And maybe without your weird friend, too.”
I give Elliot’s words as much attention as a fly in my face. I’m out of the cab in the next instant. “Danny,” I call out. “Danny, please, stop.” Then I ditch the cab altogether and start going after him. “Danny, where are you going??”
He spins around. His face is stern and red, wearing an expression I’ve never seen before. “I don’t know why you’re chasing after me, Romeo. You’ve got a guy there who is clearly ready to have his way with you. Two, actually. They seem to be at the quicker pace of a relationship you require. Maybe the one can give you a foot rub while you’re doing the other. Whatever makes you happy.”
“Romeo!” calls out Elliot from the cab. “What’re you doing?? This guy can’t wait on us forever!”
I ignore all of that and stay with Danny. “None of that makes me happy. You said you wanted to take it slow, didn’t you? You’re the one who put the brakes on us.”
“I might’ve braked a little, but I didn’t expect it to cause you to … steer into whatever’s happening in that cab.” Indignation burns in Danny’s eyes. “The way you spoke to me in front of them …”
“Don’t lie. You’re into that, aren’t you? You like it when a guy asserts himself.” I come right up to him. “I watched it all the time back when you still worked at Jesse’s.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“The way Joey used to treat you. The way he was. It taught me all I need to know. Guys like me? The kind of guy I’ve become?” I bring a gentle hand to Danny’s hair. “I’m the kind of guy you want. You don’t want the soft ‘sweetie’ you met a year ago. I know you too well. You get bored of that. You want the new me—the new Romeo.”
Danny searches my eyes.
Then he swats my hand away.
I sigh. “Come on, Danny. Give up this stupid hard-to-get game you’re playing. I respected your wish to ‘take things slow’, but I know that’s not what you want.”
“This is your idea of respecting my wish? By flirting with other guys in front of me and daring to go home with them? By forcing me into a situation where you’re … essentially demanding that we have sex just because you’re impatient?”
There’s a demonstrative sigh from the cab, where I spot Elliot throwing his hands. “Fuck this shit,” he calls out at us. “You both obviously got something you need to work out. I’ve lost all interest. Good night, and good luck, you cock-teasing bastard. I’m out.” He slides back into the cab, and with a groan of its engine, the vehicle drives away.