Love is Always Write Anthology Bonus Volume

okay for you to disappear and show up at one a.m. smelling of someone else's cologne."
    Daniel's eyes opened abruptly and he sat up. "What exactly are you implying?"
    Jacob dropped his eyes before the fire in Daniel's gaze. "Nothing. I'm just saying I would have liked to know where you were. And who you were with. There's this modern invention called the telephone. It works very well."
    "Cliff doesn't have the money to be on the telephone. And since when do I have to account to you for what I do and who I visit?"
    Jacob shrugged irritably. "I just like to be informed if you aren't going to show up for dinner."
    "Tell me you cooked." Daniel shoved his arm away roughly. "Tell me you cooked dinner and waited for me. You can't, can you? Not like I did five times in the last two weeks."
    "I can't cook. You know that."
    "Oh, now I get it. You waited for the little woman to come home and make dinner for you and had to go hungry. Poor you."
    "I had a sandwich. And you're not the little woman. Damn it, that's not the point. I was worried."
    "Well if you listened to a damned thing I tell you, you wouldn't have been. Because I did tell you. Yesterday. I remember clearly now. I told you at breakfast that I was going over to Cliff's with Darren and Stevie and their friends. And you said to count you out."
    Jacob frowned. It rang a faint bell. "That was tonight?"
    "Yes."
    He set the book carefully on the coffee table. "Well, maybe you did say something. I don't remember. I don't know why you want to hang about with that crowd anyway."
    "They're fun."
    "They're flaming fairies. Honest to God, Daniel. They chatter like magpies and one of them is always breaking up with another of them, and the ones who don't have a man of their own are always making a play for you. They're like the worst stereotypes of gay men. What do you see in them?"
    "They're fun," Daniel repeated slowly. "They're light-hearted and they love art and they're pretty brave to be so open. And they're queer like me."
    "You're not like them. I'm betting Cliff had make-up on, didn't he?"
    "So what? In the privacy of his own home he can look like Ginger Rogers if he wants to. Who the hell are you to sneer at him?"
    "I'm not sneering. I just don't like him and that whole crowd you hang out with since you started working at Chambers & Bradson. I worry about you. It's not good to be obvious these days. Things are getting worse for men like us, not better, the last few years. You may not have noticed but..."
    "So I should avoid my friends because they're too queer for you."
    "It's not safe. You don't pay attention to politics so you may not realize, people are getting crazy out there. It's not just the Commies. It's immigrants and actors and queers and anyone else they want to harass. It's like we're going backwards. If you hang about with people like Cliff, you could find yourself being arrested one of these days."
    Daniel drawled, "So... you're trying to protect me by keeping me away from Cliff?"
    "Yes!"
    Daniel just looked at him. Those hazel eyes that Jacob adored were steady and just a little sad.
    The words were dragged out of Jacob. "He has a crush on you."
    "I don't return his interest."
    "I know but..." Jacob tried to find the anger he'd been nursing all evening. All he found was the worry. He looked down at the floor. "You work with him, you go out places with him. You say he's fun, and I know I haven't been much fun lately."
    "You haven't been around much lately."
    "I wish you wouldn't spend so much time with him."
    "What do you really think is going to happen?"
    "I don't know."
    "You don't trust me."
    Even Jacob could hear the hurt in that clearly. "No. I do trust you. I know you won't do... anything with another man. Not while we're together."
    "What then?"
    "I'm worried you might want to."
    Daniel shook his head slowly. "What in God's name would give you that impression?"
    "He follows you. He flatters you and bats his eyelashes and laughs at your jokes and pats your arm. You two talk about art and French novels and films and things I don't know much about. All I do is go to work and stay there for fourteen hours and then come home and fall into bed. Half the time lately I'm out cold by the time you're done showering. I guess I'm scared you'll start wanting to be with him more than you want to be with me."
    Daniel laughed softly. "You are such an idiot." He leaned in to kiss Jacob's cheek and then his mouth. Jacob wanted to protest being called an idiot but his