Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 3

Cox"
    ****

ENTANGLED
    by Lex Valentine

    A close-up of a man with long curly hair standing in the rain.

    Dear Author,
    A rainy night brought him to me. Now, he sits nude, (wrapped in the smallest blanket I found) nursing a brandy and telling me his life story. Which I'm not really listening to, since I'm busy planning the way to make this straight buddy bend for me—or vice versa, I really don't care, as long as we end up tangled and satisfied. Please, don't think I'm a selfish jerk, because my crush on him is epic.
    Sincerely,
    Naaju

    genre: contemporary
    tags: musicians/rock stars; first time; switch or versatile; coming out; friends-to-lovers
    word count: 15,619
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    ENTANGLED
    by Lex Valentine
    Daren glanced over at his date. Could he roll his eyes any louder?
    Biting back a sigh, Daren hunched into his hoodie. He should have known better than to bring one of his techno loving, club crazy fuck buddies to a rock show. But he'd wanted to see this show and he hadn't wanted to go alone. He figured he could kill two birds with one stone and ask Westley to come along so he could get a blow job at the end of the night.
    Bad move.
    Wes sat hunched in his seat, pouting and rolling his eyes like a drama queen. Of course, he happened to be one of the biggest queens Daren knew, and he had pulled out all the queen moves tonight, arms crossed over his chest, legs crossed, foot bouncing in annoyance, nose in the air and, of course, the eye rolling. Not to mention the fact that he was dressed in brilliant peacock blue and neon green trimmed in gold. His super tight t-shirt even had a glittery gold crown on it. No doubt about it, they didn't come any more queenly than Wes.
    But he gave a great blow job and he didn't care if you kicked him out after the bare minimum of reciprocity, a hand job. And that sort of easy going attitude was hard to come by in a gay man. Most would pitch a fit at being summarily shown to the door after having done all the work. Still, Daren was paying the price for his selfishness by having to put up with Wes's public antics. The only colorful thing in a room filled with black leather and faded denim, Wes's attitude flew about ten notches above everyone else's, which predictably drew every eye in the place to them.
    "Why did you bring me to this?" Wes finally asked petulantly. "You know it's not my thing."
    This time, Daren let the sigh out. "I told you it was a rock show. You said you'd survive."
    Wes's plucked brows rose. "You didn't tell me it was a straight rock show. I thought this was the band with the hot queer singer."
    Daren gritted his teeth and counted to ten before replying. "It is the band I told you about. The lead singer is very gay. Believe me; you'll drool all over him."
    Westley waved a hand at the crowd. "So where are all their fan boys? All I see are straight male throwbacks to the eighties, darling."
    "I never said their fan base was filled with gay men, Wes. You just assumed that. Stone Sutton is like any other rock band. They have a lot of female fans and most of the male ones are straight," Daren explained patiently.
    "Hmmph." Wes rolled his eyes again and his foot bounced more agitatedly but he didn't speak another word as the lights came down.
    Loud drums thundered through the club as darkness enveloped them. The low wail of a guitar began and grew in strength and resonance as spotlights finally picked out the guitarist and the lead singer. Daren's breath caught in his throat. Eschewing the beautiful blond singer for the dark haired guitar virtuoso, Daren let Taylor Sutton's playing call to his soul as much as the man's taut body dressed in only a pair of black leather pants called to his libido.
    Stone Bradley's voice filled the club and drew the crowd like a siren, but it was Taylor Sutton's bowed body and half hidden face that sent Daren's heart racing into cardiac arrest zone. He stared, mesmerized as always by Taylor's playing. He sighed again, this time with contentment and joy. Nothing made him feel the way Taylor's music made him feel.
    Daren had known Taylor for five years, since their days of working together at the Grinder, a coffee house where Taylor played his acoustic guitar every Friday night. They'd become best friends, based on their love of music and art, despite the fact that Taylor was straight and Daren was gay. In fact, had Daren not been gay, Taylor would never have met Stone Bradley with whom he'd formed Stone Sutton.
    Stone