Coda 03 -The Letter Z

then he comes like he’s never come before—not with me, at any rate—and everybody in that bathroom’s gotta know it too.
    There’s laughter from the two guys waitin’ for their turn in the stall, and one of them says, “I guess it was worth fifty bucks.”
    Zach leans down ’gainst my back. He’s still breathin’ hard. He kisses my cheek and says quietly in my ear, “I sure hope you’re okay with what I just did.”
    I don’t even have to think ’bout it. “Am I really your north?” I ask him.

    “You are my everything.”

    “Guess that means I’m your Ziggy Stardust sometimes too.”

Matt…
    A S USUAL , Angelo and I were awake before Jared and Zach. I called him, and we met at the elevator.

    “What the hell happened to your neck?” I asked him when he showed up, because there was no missing the huge hickey he had.
    He looked at me sideways, a slight blush creeping up his cheeks. “Burned it on my curlin’ iron,” he said as he hit the button to call the elevator.
    I laughed. “I take it you guys made up?”
    And to my surprise, he blushed even more. “We’re good,” he said. He wasn’t looking at me, but it wasn’t his usual flippant tone, either. His voice was quiet and a little bit hesitant. He was being as genuine with me as he knew how to be. “Even better than before, I think.”
    He glanced my way for just a second, then looked away, like he was expecting me to laugh. I made sure I didn’t. “I’m glad.”
    We grabbed some coffee and took the tram to Paris, where we wandered around aimlessly for a while, then down to New York, New York. We were headed back north again when Jared called to say that he and Zach were finally up, and I told him to meet us in front of the Bellagio.
    “Wish we could see the fountain again,” Angelo said as we stared out at the lake, waiting for Zach and Jared. It wouldn’t start running again until three, and we had planned to leave by noon.
    “Maybe we should leave late,” I said. It was something I had been thinking about already. “We could leave around five. We’d have to drive through the night, but between the four of us, it wouldn’t be so bad. Jared and I are both off tomorrow, and it would still give you and Zach a few hours before you had to open the store.”
    He smiled over at me. “Already thought of that, but didn’t wanna be the one to say it. You guys’ve laughed at me enough this trip already.”
    Zach and Jared showed up then. Zach stood behind Ang like he always did, with one arm around his neck, and Angelo leaned back against him. Zach whispered something in his ear, and Angelo smiled. They looked as happy together as I had ever seen them.
    “Jesus Zach,” Jared suddenly said. “What the hell did you do to his neck?”
Angelo blushed again, and Zach said jokingly, “What makes you think I did it?”
    I laughed, but Jared didn’t. I looked over at him, and what I saw surprised me. He was glaring at Angelo, looking more pissed off than I had seen him in a long time.
    “Then who did?”
    Zach and Angelo both turned to look at Jared. Angelo looked wary. His normal cocky attitude was nowhere to be seen. But Zach looked indignant. I was trying to catch up. It had never occurred to me that anybody other than Zach would have left that mark on Angelo’s neck. I hadn’t taken Zach’s response seriously at all. But I could see now that I was wrong.
    “Let it go, Jared,” Zach said, and there was no mistaking the quiet threat in his voice.

    Jared ignored him. “You did it again, didn’t you?” he asked Angelo. “You wanted to get laid, and so you did.”
    “Stop!” Zach said. He had both arms wrapped around Angelo, and even though Angelo wasn’t fighting, I could tell Zach was braced for it. Jared didn’t listen.
    “All you think about is yourself, and what you want. You never think about Zach at all!”
“Jared,” I said, trying to interrupt him. I put my hand on his shoulder, but he brushed me off and continued raging at Angelo as if I had never spoken.
    “You think just because Zach can’t tell you ‘no’, that makes it okay?
    You think you can do whatever you want to do, and fuck whoever you want to fuck, and Zach has to put up with it? Well, you’re wrong! It’s still a selfish thing to do, and one of these days he’s gonna wise up and leave you, and you’ll wonder why you’re completely alone again!”
    Angelo’s eyes were closed, but whether he was fighting back tears, or sheer blind