Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 3

of his relationship with Taylor. Because, truth be told, the man looked seriously unhappy as he sat in the chair, elbows on knees, nursing the hot mug of Earl Grey tea. Daren's heart sank.
    "I didn't want to come to the door because I was afraid your date might still be here and I didn't want to interrupt."
    The palpable discomfort in Taylor's words rocked Daren. "Westley is just a friend," he explained, but Taylor shook his head.
    "At the club, before I went onstage, I saw you kiss him. You're lovers. It's in your body language. You've been intimate with him."
    A sigh escaped Daren. "Yeah, so he's blown me a few times. We're only friends now. I could never have a relationship with him. He's not my type, but he was okay as a fuck buddy until now," he admitted.
    Taylor's eyes gleamed. "Now? What's changed?" he asked, his voice curious.
    Hell. Already he'd put his foot in it. He knew letting Taylor in was a bad, bad thing. He sipped his tea, letting it scald his tongue. The pain was his penance, he thought.
    "I've changed. I guess casual sex doesn't do it for me anymore."
    Taylor's head bobbed absently. "It doesn't do it for me either."
    Another moment of silence fell and Daren resisted the urge to squirm in his chair. Finally, he blurted, "You said you wanted to talk to me…"
    "I do." Taylor sipped his tea, sniffing the bergamot scented brew. "I need to tell you a story."
    "At this hour, it would be a bedtime story." Daren made a face and a brief smile lit Taylor's face.
    "It's not pretty enough for a bedtime story, but it might put you to sleep," he acceded wryly. "I need to tell you about my family, who I really am. It occurred to me that I'm closer to you than any other person in the world, but you don't know the truth."
    "The truth about what? Spit it all out, Taylor. I'm not going anywhere. I have all the time in the world for you." Daren tried to be soothing because he could tell Taylor was nervous.
    "I'm not who you think I am, Dare. On a lot of fronts."
    What. The. Hell? Daren had no idea what Taylor could possibly be hiding, but whatever it was really upset the guy. And he wanted to listen, he truly did, but the damned lap blanket Taylor wore made him want to bend the guy over. Or drop to his knees. It was damned distracting! All that golden flesh on display turned Daren into a quivering mass of I'm-in-love-with-a-straight-guy jelly. If he were more of a flamer maybe he'd consider going transgender to have Taylor, but he really didn't think he'd make a very attractive woman. And he had no idea what to do with a pair of boobs, let alone what would happen to his cock and balls.
    Daren shuddered a little at the thought of going under the knife in a sex change operation. Ugh. He was gay, not a woman. The limits of love apparently stopped just shy of the surgeon's scalpel. As soon as Taylor left, he'd go upstairs and masturbate just to celebrate being male.
    "Sutton isn't exactly my last name."
    Taylor's words reined in Daren's wayward thoughts. With his focus back on Taylor's need to tell his life story, Daren cocked a brow up at his best friend.
    "My full name is Taylor Colby Sutton-Jones," he said softly while gazing at Daren with an expectant expression.
    Daren blinked. "That's a mouthful, but you seem to think it should mean something to me."
    "It should." Taylor grimaced and sipped his tea. "My mother is Daisy Sutton."
    The name had a familiarity to it that set the wheels in Daren's head turning. A flash of brilliant white teeth in a piquant face with a famous smile framed by luxurious red curls came to him. He could feel astonishment slackening the muscles in his face as his mouth dropped open.
    Taylor nodded, his amber eyes dark with emotion. "I can see you know her name which means you know my father is Gavin Jones of Deceiver."
    Only one of the biggest rock bands ever to come out of England. Right up there with the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and The Who. Daren sat his tea mug on the flagstone of the hearth with a muted thud. He stared in profound shock at Taylor who gazed back at him with eyes filled with nervousness and a wealth of other emotions Daren couldn't quite name.
    "Well, okay. That is a pretty big omission on your part. You said your dad travelled a lot for his work, but you never said what he did. I figured that was because you also said you didn't exactly get along with him." Bits of things Taylor had said to him over the past five years about his family started coming back to