Coda 03 -The Letter Z

were more guys after that. Angelo moved through them like a performer working the crowd, smiling and teasing, his eyes flashing and mischievous.
    Jonathan had led Zach away from our table while I was watching Angelo, and I knew it was so he could talk to him without Jared and me overhearing. They were leaning on a railing not far from us, watching the dance floor. Jonathan was talking intently to Zach, but I could tell Zach was only half-listening. I wondered how he felt about what Ang was doing. I expected him to be angry, or hurt, or maybe not paying attention at all. What I saw surprised me. He wasn’t concerned at all. He was watching Ang, a tiny smile on his face, looking for all the world like he found the whole spectacle mildly amusing.
    I looked over at Jared. He was watching Angelo too. His cheeks were red, and I could tell he was torn between being turned on and being incredibly pissed off.
    “I didn’t realize,” I said dumbly, and he looked over at me in annoyance.
“Of course you didn’t,” he snapped. “You may go to bed with a man every night, but for all intents and purposes, you’re still straight. You don’t see anything. You don’t see Angelo for what he is.”
    “And what is he?” I asked, trying to not be offended.
    “Sex, Matt,” he said in obvious exasperation. “Everything about him just screams to be fucked. Look at him,” he said, gesturing toward the dance floor angrily. “He looks like sex. He smells like sex. He even walks like sex.”
    “How does sex walk?” I asked with a smile, but he didn’t smile back. Then I had another thought. “Are you saying you want to fuck Angelo?” I asked, and regretted it immediately. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear the answer.
    Luckily, he ignored me. “Nothing good can happen here,” he said quietly, turning his back on the dance floor.
    Angelo was with a new guy now. He was only a little taller than Ang. His hair was almost the same, too, black and spiky. His shirt was off, and his upper body had more tattoos and piercings than I could count. He was tight up against Angelo’s back, grinding his groin into Ang’s ass. Ang had his head back on Tattoo’s shoulder, and his eyes were closed. And the look on his face… it was a look I could have gone my whole life without seeing on my best friend’s face, a look I had assumed until now was reserved only for Zach. One of Tattoo’s hands was deep in the pocket of Angelo’s baggy jeans, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out what was going on.
    “How can Zach just stand there like that?” I asked quietly. “I have no idea.”
    Zach and Jonathan were headed back to our table now, and Zach did look pissed. But to my surprise, it wasn’t at Angelo.
    “This is what I mean, Zach,” Jonathan was saying as they reached our table. He gestured to the dance floor. Another guy had joined Ang and Tattoo, making a ménage of grinding hips and wandering hands. “You can’t expect a relationship with a guy like that to last.”
    “You don’t know Angelo,” Zach said.
“I don’t have to know him. All I have to do is watch him.” “He’s just having fun,” Zach said.
“And that’s okay with you?”
    “Not that it’s any of your business,” Zach snapped, and I was impressed to see that he actually could stand up for himself when he needed to, “but yes, it’s okay with me.” I glanced at Jared and saw my own disbelief mirrored back at me.
    Jonathan took a deep measured breath, obviously deciding to change his tactics. He stepped closer to Zach and put one arm around his waist.
    “Zach, all I’m trying to say is, I’ve missed you.”
“Since when? Tonight?”
“Always. We were good together.”
“So good that you left.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
“Don’t be. It was for the best.”
    “I’ve regretted it a hundred times. I wish you would give me another chance.”

    “It’s too la—” Zach started to say. But he was cut short when Jonathan pulled him close and kissed him.

    “Oh shit,” I heard Jared say quietly next to me.
    Jonathan wrapped his other arm around Zach and deepened the kiss. For a mere second, Zach was kissing him back—whether he meant to or not, I had no idea—and then all hell broke loose.
    I didn’t know when Angelo had stopped dancing and started seeing what was going on. Maybe he had been watching all along. Zach was just starting to protest, pushing Jonathan away, when Ang came flying out of nowhere. He shoved Jonathan hard