“If I was your dad, I’d be kicking your ass right now. Don’t make me have to hunt you down.” Greg left him with a reluctant smile on his face, shaking his head.
“I’ll be there. Don’t worry.”
Greg’s expression went totally serious in a split second. “Too late for that, kid. See you soon.”
The door closed and Baz shook his head, trying not to feel like a sap. He knew Greg cared about him. He just hadn’t realized how much. Or how much it meant to Baz that he did.
He and Nik and the rest of the band had never had a problem sharing their feelings. They’d been a united front against the jocks who’d dominated their high school and tormented any guy they considered a pussy. Which basically meant anyone who wasn’t one of them. Any guy who touched another guy, unless they were wearing shoulder pads and a helmet or punching the shit out of them, was gay.
God forbid another guy put his arm around your shoulders. That could get you a beat down in the locker room before gym or in the parking lot after school.
Baz and Nik and their bandmates had sported a hell of a lot of bruises because Baz had been raised by parents who showed him actual affection, and Nik craved it because his mom had been so fucked up and the revolving door of men in his life had either paid him no attention or given him the wrong kind. Together with Trev, Jase, and Zach, who had their own varying degrees of screwed up, they’d been a force.
As he took a quick shower and changed, he kept coming back to that. Even when they’d been getting the shit beaten out of them, they’d stuck together. When they’d started playing gigs and five people had shown up, they’d gone out and done it again the next night because they had one another.
And eventually, they’d made it out. Away from Wilkes-Barre and the fucking middle-of-nowhere Pennsylvania, where there was a church on every corner and the hypocrites went every Sunday.
Fuck. Shaking his head, he headed out of his apartment and down to Greg’s, checking his phone to see if Nik had called him back, even though Baz knew he hadn’t.
He must’ve had a pissy look on his face because when Sabrina opened the door, her eyes widened and she reached for his arm to pull him into the apartment.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
And shit. “I thought you had to work?”
She gave him a look. “Hello to you, too. What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
He rolled his eyes and sighed. “Nothing’s wrong. Jesus, can’t I just have a bad day? Does it always have to be Armageddon?”
He realized now that she was dressed for work. She’d probably been on her way out the door when he’d arrived. And now she was going to give him the third degree and he really wasn’t in the mood.
Your own damn fault. Should’ve waited another five minutes.
And now she looked really worried. “No, but . . .” She grimaced and shook her head, removing her hand from his arm and taking a step away. “No, you’re right. I’m sorry. That was stupid. It’s just . . . Never mind. I better get going. Told the twins I’d be down a little early to relieve them. They’ve got— They want to leave early.”
“Bree, wait.” He reached for her shoulders, getting her to stop. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to jump down your throat. I just have . . . a lot on my mind, okay? I’m not in any danger of taking a dive off the Ben Franklin.”
“I know that.” She looked like she wanted to say something more but thought better of it. Putting her hand on his cheek, she pressed her lips against his and one of his arms automatically went around her shoulders. She certainly wasn’t trying to get him riled up. It was an affectionate exchange between friends. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to piss you off even more.”
“You didn’t. Seriously. Now, apparently I’m supposed to play cards tonight, so where’s your boyfriend?”
He looked over Bree’s shoulder to find Greg watching them from the short hallway that led to the bedrooms. Bree turned but gripped his forearms with her hands so he couldn’t release her.
“Her boyfriend is waiting for you to get your hands off his woman so he can kiss her good-bye.”
Then Greg grinned and walked toward them, trapping her between them. Baz still had his arm around her when Greg bent to kiss her. Baz knew Greg didn’t have a lot of boundaries when it came to affection. He was a lot like Nik in that way.
But Greg had absolute faith in Sabrina’s love for him and wasn’t threatened by Baz’s friendship with her. Even though Greg knew Baz had wanted more at one time. Greg also knew how he felt about Tru, so, yeah, he wasn’t threatened.
“I’ll stop down to see you later, sweetheart.”
Baz released Sabrina as she moved away to grab her purse, then headed for the door.
“Have fun, guys.” She waggled her fingers over her shoulders before shutting the door behind her, leaving Baz and Greg staring at each other.
“Ready to eat, drink, and lose your money?”
“Is she always that worried that I’m going to lose my shit?”
Greg didn’t blink at his change of subject. “Not always, no.”
“Are you?”
A faint hint of a smile on Greg’s mouth. “Not always, no. But here’s the thing. You nearly died from an accidental overdose. We didn’t know you back then, so sometimes I wonder, if I had known you, would I have realized how close to the edge you were? Or did you cover it up so well not even your best friends realized what was going on? And if your best friends missed it, how the hell will I ever see it coming? So, yeah, I worry. Bree worries. Your parents worry. Your friends worry. You know who doesn’t?”
Baz shook his head.
“Tru.”
He blinked. Damn, Greg was right.
She’d never once looked at him like she thought he was gonna go off the deep end and drown his sorrows in pills and liquor.
She’d never been afraid to fight with him, never worried she’d push him too far, too fast. He’d attributed that to her hating his guts but he knew she didn’t.
The same was true of Nik. Nik had tried to give him space, and when Baz still hadn’t come around, Nik had come after him, unafraid to piss him off.
“Good.” Greg smiled at him. “Now you’ll chew on that all night and we can take advantage of you at the card table.” Greg threw his arm around Baz’s shoulders and turned him toward the door. “Let’s go. I’m hungry.”
He and Greg walked down the hall toward Ty’s and Jared’s apartments at the other end of the building but didn’t stop at either of their doors. Instead, Greg led him to the end of the hall and another three doors.
He reached for the door on the left and waved Baz into an office.
Baz gave Greg a curious look. “We’re gonna play cards in here?”
“No. You’ve got to sign a waiver first.”
“To play cards? What the fuck?”
“No. But you’ve got to sign the waiver to get into the room where we’re playing cards.”
Greg grabbed the piece of paper laying on the desk and handed it to Baz, who couldn’t help but wonder if maybe this was some elaborate prank and he was signing a release for some show like Borat or Jackass.
“Take a few minutes and read it over. After you sign, you’ll understand when I show you. And trust me, you’ll want to sign.”
“You’re not gonna strip me naked and make me do something stupid, are you?”
Greg laughed. “No. But that’s a great idea. I’ll have to use it later. Just read it and sign it. Trust me.”
Baz read through the waiver, not too surprised to see it was a nondisclosure form for some place named the Salon.
He glanced up at Greg after reading through the one-page document that basically threatened legal action if he ever spoke about the Salon to anyone other than other members of the Salon.
“So we’re all gonna sit around and do each other’s hair tonight? Man, I know you’re into some strange shit but seriously?”
Greg reached over and smacked him on the side of his head. “Just sign the damn paper. If I wanted to do your hair, I’d take a damn razor to one side of it.”