Page 34 of Kiss-Fist (Deaf Hearts #1)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

ROBBIE

‘It’s so amazing to see all of you,’ Pear signs as she starts to crowd-work. ‘Any anniversaries here?’

A couple in the front raises their hands, and Pear grabs the woman. She’s at least sixty, and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen her at my parents’ church the few times a year they convince me to go.

Wonderful. I duck down a little as Pear twirls her and makes her do a little shimmy.

Beside me, Thom’s waving his hands with everyone else.

I feel a nudge and glance over at Rome. ‘You brought a hearie to the Deaf show. Are you that desperate? You know I never turn you down. If you really wanted to get fucked, you could have texted instead of lowering your standards for this guy.’

Is he seriously keeping this shit up? ‘Why are you angry?’

‘Because I thought we were on the same page,’ he says, his hands flying. ‘I thought we both agreed! Why are you letting him invade our space!’

A hand waves in my periphery, and I turn my head to see Rhett leaning over. ‘Say that again, asshole.’

‘You know you only get a pass because you help Robbie and suck Mellie’s dick like a good boy whenever he tells you to get on your knees,’ Rome answers back.

Mellie slams his hands on the table and stands up halfway, his eyes full of fire. No one fucks with Mellie or the man he loves. Even before the guy was practically living at the gym, he was intimidating. Now, he’s got the biceps to match.

‘Do you want to go outside?’

Rome rolls his eyes. ‘Sit down before you hurt yourself.’

Beside me, Thom is vibrating with what I think is rage, and I’m feeling about six shades of humiliated because we now have the attention of the whole goddamn room. The three queens are slinking over.

Fuck. This is going to be so bad.

‘Bar fight?’ Pear asks, perfectly drawn eyebrows arched up in question.

Peach shrugs. ‘I didn’t bring my boxing gloves.

’ She mimes punching Apple, who flings herself into the arms of a very, very swole twunk who cradles her.

She gives a satisfied grin and pats his pec.

The guy, who is most definitely his boyfriend, wearing a suit without a tie, doesn’t look bothered at all.

‘What’s going on here, boys?’ Pear asks as she finally reaches the table. ‘Are we being…unkind?’ She stares down Rome in a way that tells me they’ve butted heads before. And pr obably dicks. ‘You know that’s not allowed at our show. Good vibes only.’

Rome says nothing, his hands firmly in his lap.

Pear rolls her eyes, then turns her gaze on Thom. She tilts her head to the side, then smiles. ‘Hearing?’

He nods.

‘Precious.’ Her nails scrape her chin with the sign. I can see Rhett interpreting beside him. She reaches out and drags a touch down his jaw, and he flushes. I’m…shit, I’m jealous . But I also kind of like it. ‘You know ASL?’

‘I’m learning,’ he signs—the perfect, stilted classroom vocabulary that Denver had taught them all and looking so fucking cute while he does it.

She makes an oooh face and spins around the room. ‘Another gorgeous hearie? Learning for me ?’

Everyone’s hands wave. She folds her own into a prayer under her chin as she turns back to him and beckons Apple and Peach to her side. ‘Do you want to come onstage with us?’

Oh god, oh god . He’s going to freak. He’s going to panic. He’s going to?—

‘Yes.’ He stands up and flexes his pecs in his obnoxiously tight shirt and gives me a look full of meaning. ‘Sign slow, please?’

‘Oh precious, of course we will,’ Pear signs at him. She pats his bicep, and then her eyes get all dreamy, and she strokes it.

Fuck.

‘Do you work out?’ she asks as they take him further toward the stage .

‘Want me to go up with him?’ Rhett asks.

I nod in a panic, and he shoots up, following the four of them back to the spotlight.

He meets them and quickly tells Thom what Pear had asked him. He turns and holds up his arm in another flex, making his muscle dance. ‘I work out,’ he signs. ‘I work at a gym.’

The three of them swoon, Pear falling into Apple’s arms. ‘He works in a gym,’ she signs dramatically. ‘Can you show us your moves?’

The lights flicker, and music starts up again. Thom, for the first time, looks a little unsure. Pear taps her chin, then turns to the room.

‘He’s hearing, so let’s give him a hearing clap. Encourage him. Make noise!’

I feel an almost vibration in the air. Thom’s going to get a full experience about what Deaf shouting is like, but he doesn’t seem bothered at all. In fact, he looks encouraged. His gaze roams the room for a second, then lands on me, and he gets a smirk that looks…dark. And a little dangerous.

He lifts his shirt to show off the abs I know he’s worked hard for, and then he starts dancing and posing a little like those bodybuilding competitions that Thom always has playing on the gym TVs.

The energy in the room picks up, and Thom’s into it.

He’s dancing more, flexing more, turning around and doing squats for everyone.

I feel a mixture of possessiveness and pride.

This is my man. Mine . You can look all you want, but I get to take him home and fuck that ass until he cries and begs to come .

Beside me, Rome suddenly stands. He stares at me for a long beat, then turns on his heel and storms out. When I look back at the stage, Thom is smiling again.

At me.

A smile that tells me we’re going to have to talk this out. Or maybe fuck this out. But it’s not over.

I just hope he understands that I hadn’t planned on Rome being here—and even if I did, I had no idea he’d act like this. And I will make it up to him.

The Fruit Basket eventually lets Thom go back to the table.

Rhett’s laughing and clapping him on the shoulder as Thom sinks next to me.

Everyone is a little tense, and I see Thom’s shoulders rise and fall with a sigh.

Then, he digs his fingers into my hair, tugging hard enough that it stings, and leaves a mean, messy kiss on my lips.

‘Later?’ he asks.

I nod.

Later.

Glimmer Dear takes the stage after the second openers are finished. They’re dressed like ABBA and doing several pieces from Mamma Mia . It’s fun, and for a little while, as we shove one-dollar bills into everyone’s cleavage, we can forget about all the tension Rome left behind.

Mellie gets the second round of drinks. Fayid goes next. Thom is relaxing more as he sips on his gin and tonic, his muscular body leaning into mine .

Rome doesn’t come back either. The buzzing of my phone tells me he’s got more to say and is not willing to let this go, but I don’t bother looking. I’ll deal with him once I’m sure Thom isn’t panicking about anything he said.

I know it can be hard for hearing people at these events. I had my rules, but I’ve never gone out of my way to make someone not feel included. I know the gut ache that it causes, and I’m not about to be the source of that for someone else.

And yeah, I did break my rules that Rome referenced, but when I made them, I didn’t know someone like Thom existed. I never knew what it meant to want to try for someone before. Now I do.

I will not let this end badly. I’ve already fought hard enough.

The lights flicker, getting everyone’s attention, and then Glimmer Dear walks onstage.

She looks nothing like Denver now, in her very shiny, pink, silky dress with faux fur at the bottom and along the collar.

She’s got a blonde wig on, styled with chopsticks that remind me of ’90s fashion, and she’s got a man in dark leather pants and a half-buttoned white shirt beside her.

She flips her hair and smiles at the crowd.

‘You all look beautiful tonight.’

And that’s when Thom stiffens. He stares at Glimmer Dear, then at me, then back at Glimmer Dear. Then he stares at Fayid, who is pretending like he can’t see Thom.

I sigh. I should put him out of his misery.

He reaches under the table and snatches my hand, giving it a tight squeeze until I look directly at him. ‘That’s not…’ His fingers hover in the air. ‘Is that…’

I nod before he can spell it. I don’t think Glimmer Dear will forgive me if Thom starts signing her non-stage name in the middle of the bar like that. A lot of people know who she is, but it’s not something anyone advertises.

‘Yes,’ I sign for good measure. ‘That is who you think it is. Don’t say anything.’

He looks stunned and signs nothing else, but he continues to hold my hand as he turns his attention back to the stage. Glimmer Dear does her usual warming up the crowd, though everyone is already in an amazing mood.

Then a pulsing beat jumps to life under our feet, and Glimmer Dear begins to sign. I recognize the song immediately—and the dance. Glimmer Dear and her partner are doing “Time After Time” and the dance from Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion .

I remember watching the dance, and looking at the outfits, and wondering if I would ever be that brave. And it’s nice to see that although it took years, I am. I’m here. And I’m slowly falling for a man who was the last person on Earth I thought would be my forever.

My parents are going to love him.

Shit . I actually want them to meet Thom.

I stroke his wrist with my thumb as Glimmer Dear finishes off the dance with a perfect lift. Everyone applauds, and that’s the only time he lets me go. She does her usual goodbyes, then comes to do her round of catching tips.

When she sees me, she smiles .

Then she sees Thom and freezes.

‘Sorry. He knows,’ I sign as subtly as I can.

Glimmer Dear heaves a sigh and bends over at the waist. Thom’s fingers shake as he pushes a twenty into her bra, and she rewards him with a tiny touch against his jaw. ‘Later,’ she signs subtly.

There’s a lot of ‘later’ going around tonight.

Posey closes the show, and I can feel restless energy coming off Thom in waves. Maybe he’s anxious. Maybe it’s just his meds wearing off. I’m terrified the moment the house lights come on, he’s going to jump up and bolt.

I grasp his hand to stop that from happening, and he gives me an odd look right as everything around us goes bright.

I wince, then look past Thom at my friends.

They’re not talking the way they usually do.

They know the whole mood is off, and it sucks because I wanted Thom to experience all of this.

I want him to see what it’s like when we all get together. I want him to suffer the thirty-minute Deaf goodbye, walking around with six childhood stories from Fayid and how long it took Mellie to find a roast for his last week’s dinner.

But that’s not going to happen tonight.

Everyone slinks away toward the bar, leaving me and Thom at the table. It’s a onetime exception so all of this—this thing that has made me surprisingly and wildly happy for the last several weeks—doesn’t fall apart.

‘We need to talk,’ Thom says when we’re alone.

I take a breath. ‘Yeah. I know.’

He glances over his shoulder at where everyone is hovering. Watching. It doesn’t get better gossip material than this. But I’m not ready for Thom to be the talk of the town. Not yet.

‘Thirty minutes, right?’ he signs.

I frown. ‘What?’

‘Deaf goodbye.’ He spells it. ‘Leaf told me.’

Fucking Leaf. I mean, I appreciate it, I guess. I’m glad someone was around to give Thom a tutorial so he wasn’t a total fish out of water. Of course, there was no way that Leaf could have known about Rome and his bullshit.

As if summoned, my phone buzzes again. This time, Thom feels it because his gaze darts to my pocket, then back up to my face.

‘He’s in love with you.’ He spells most of that sentence.

I shake my head. ‘No. Wrong.’

Thom folds his arms over his chest and looks the most stubborn I’ve seen him.

‘Wrong,’ I tell him again. ‘I don’t know why he was like that.’

Thom licks his lips, and I want to trace that wet path with my own tongue. He takes a beat, then nods firmly and stands, hauling me up by the front of my shirt. Over his shoulder, I see everyone leaning forward to try and catch what his hands are saying.

‘Will they forgive me if we leave?’

For skipping our goodbyes? They’ll make sure to remind him of it every time they see him, but they’ll forgive him this time. Especially if I give them details later.

I pull him close and lean over his shoulder, waving my hand at them. Fayid nods for me to go on. ‘See you soon. ’

Everyone bursts into laughter, and Mellie rolls his eyes, putting one arm around Rhett and signing with the other, ‘Make him feel better.’

I plan to. I think. I hope. I’m not sure about the look on his face, but I do know that I’m going to take this reprieve, and I’m going to do my goddamn best.