Fugly by K Z Snow Read Free Book Online

laid. Some other feeling had put that tone in his voice.
    Gabe lowered his head and seemed to address the doorknob. “Because once your condition clears up, I’ll be forced to realize I was your last resort. And being someone’s last resort is never an honor. Don’t you know that?” He opened the door.
    “Gabriel!”
    He paused, turned.
    Todd had trouble meeting his gaze. “I like you. I do.”
    “Right now,” Gabe said with a rueful smile. “That isn’t enough.”

Chapter Three
    When David walked in, Jake didn’t hug him. They always greeted each other with a brief, friendly hug—and often said good-bye with a fast, furious fuck—but Jake was feeling too self-conscious about his dreadfully diseased skin to get close to anybody, even his favorite casual lay.
    “You seem preoccupied today,” David said without approaching him. A bright man, David apparently took his cue from Jake’s body language. He stopped and stood in the middle of the sunny office, a large manila envelope tucked beneath his left arm.
    Jake turned from the window and rested his butt on the sill. “A little, I guess.”
    David smiled. He had a curiously comforting smile. “I suppose that comes with being a high-powered agent.”
    “Having an office in New York City comes with being a high-powered agent.
    Having an office on the Square comes with being a medium-powered agent. Having an office in Brookside Professional Park”—Jake inclined his head toward the long window at his back, beyond which lay a scrubby five acres of suburban woods—"comes with being…” He almost said, Jake Pelletier, wannabe , but it sounded self-pitying.
    “Hey, I like it,” David said with quiet good cheer. “It’s a lot more pleasant than a pretentious suite in some high-rise.” He was being reassuring in his understated way. It was something he did often…and so subtly, Jake never realized until after the fact that David had managed to boost his flagging spirits.
    This was only the second time they’d gotten together in the past month. David lived nearly forty miles outside the city, so it was more convenient for them to stay in touch via phone and e-mail. Besides, publishers weren’t exactly screaming for David Ocho’s work.
    Still, Jake liked seeing him. Valued his company, actually. Not because David was a knockout—from his average height to his average hair, David couldn’t hold a candle to the men Jake hooked up with—but he was, oddly enough, a welcome diversion from those men. David and Jake actually talked more than they fucked, even though the fucking was pretty damned good.
    “You still seem distant,” David said. “Would you rather I left?”
    “No, of course not.” Jake went to his desk and sat down. How like David to be considerate, even at his own expense.
    “There are other things I can do in town. It wouldn’t be a wasted trip.”
    “David, quit being so goddamned selfless and have a seat.”
    He continued to stand. The thin wash of early spring sunlight drew soft streaks of persimmon from his dark brown hair and made his eyes a shade more green than brown.
    “I’m not being selfless. I just don’t like dealing with somebody, anybody, whose mind is elsewhere.”
    “My mind is here.”
    “We’ll see.” David tossed the manila envelope onto Jake’s desk. It landed half on an open appointment book and half on a manuscript checkered with Post-It notes.
    “What’s this?” Jake asked. He snatched up a pen before it rolled to the floor.
    “The story you suggested I write.” David finally sat.
    “You don’t sound too enthusiastic about it.”

    David shrugged. His suede jacket was open, as were the top two buttons of the knit shirt beneath it. He had a nice body, slender and firm. It wasn’t muscled up, but Jake liked the feel of its sleek contours beneath his hands whenever they got into a clutch. He liked even more what David was capable of doing with that body.
    When Jake realized he was staring over his