Chasing Death Metal Dreams by Kaje Harper Read Free Book Online

“Not too bad.”
    “Sure, come down I-5.” Nate’s voice faltered. “Not that you have to. I mean, that’s still kind of far to come for a free iced coffee.”
    “Hey, you said the magic word.”
    “Coffee?”
    “Free.”
    Nate chuckled. “So… you didn’t call me just for free coffee, did you?”
    “Uh. I have to buy stupid shirts.” He realized how pathetic that sounded even as he said it. “Never mind.”
    “No. Go on. You have to buy shirts. Stupid ones. So… you want company? Advice? Someone to hold you back so you don’t buy out the store?”
    “I hate shopping,” he grumped. “It’s for work.”
    “Ah, that kind of stupid. Well, you’re in luck. I have a degree in shopology.”
    “I have no money.”
    “I’m not surprised. There’s a thrift store in the strip mall here. We’ll find something.”
    “We?”
    “I have a half-hour break at seven, I have the expert shopping gene, and you need shirts. Buying will happen.”
    Carlos bit his lip, but a happy Nate was pretty irresistible. And maybe there’d be a few spare minutes in that half hour for something a lot more fun than shopping. “Okay. Send me the trail of breadcrumbs. I’ll see you a bit before seven.”
    The coffee shop where Nate worked turned out to be at the end of an older mall, next to a dry cleaner and a hardware store. Carlos parked, strolled across the lot to the storefront, and pushed open the glass door. It was a small place, deeper than wide, with round tables for two or four, and a short counter at one side. A few middle-aged customers sat at the tables with their cups and electronic devices. The board up above the counter listed a wide array of hot drinks and cold, but the pastry case had pretty meager choices. The girl behind the register smiled as he approached. “What can I get for you?”
    A couple of feet down the counter, Nate looked over from behind the espresso machine and grinned. “This one’s on me, Mandy. Hey, Carlos. What’ll you have? Hot or cold?”
    “Hot. Coffee.” It occurred to him that Mandy no doubt knew Nate was gay, which meant she’d probably guess he was too. Shouldn’t be a problem unless she was a local metal fan, which judging from her Lolita goth look, was unlikely but not impossible. Well, it was too late now to do anything. He straightened his shoulders, slouched his hips, leaned an elbow on the tall part of the counter. “Hey, Nate.”
    Nate’s lips twitched, giving Carlos the uncomfortable feeling he’d spotted the straight-guy act, but he just said, “Pick a seat, any seat. I’ll bring it over.”
    Carlos picked a table in the corner, looking out on the parking lot. The mall was pretty deserted. When Nate brought his cup, he said, “Seems quiet.”
    “It comes and goes. There’s a theater a block down; we get customers between the shows. My break’s scheduled now for a reason. Give me five minutes.”
    Carlos drank his coffee, which was pretty damned good, and waited as Nate conferred with the cashier, then took off his blue apron. Under it he was wearing— surprise— all black, in painted on jeans and a shirt with long cuffs and loose sleeves. When he came back over, Carlos reached out and twitched a fold of silky fabric. “Dress Like a Pirate Day?”
    Nate smacked his fingers away, but not roughly. “Philistine.”
    “Ooh. I bet you went to college.”
    Nate looked a little surprised. “Didn’t you?”
    “Nope.” Tío Ramón hadn’t been happy with him, since his parents had been sending money to put in his college account for years, but it’d been needed for other, more urgent purposes.
    “You still knew what it meant.”
    “Didn’t say I was dumb, just uneducated.” He was a songwriter, and he loved words. Anyone who thought he should talk like a laborer could get screwed.
    “Sorry. Bad assumptions.”
    “S’okay.” He reached out again to pat Nate’s shirt. “So what do you call this? Flutter-goth?”
    “I call it better than that rag