The Complete Veterans Affairs Romances: Gay Military Romances by A. E. Wasp

Author:A. E. Wasp [Wasp, A. E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kelpie Press
Published: 2017-07-26T23:00:00+00:00

chapter sixteen

The sun dropped even lower, and the light shifted to oranges and reds. Shadows stretched long in the courtyard, and the temperature dropped. All that was left of the food were scraps that Jasmine was busy feeding to the dogs when she thought no one was looking. The way they huddled around her chair like she was their goddess gave her away.

“You and Jay move in together yet?” Benny asked Angel.

“No. We’re taking it slow.” She made a face. “Glacial, you could say. We’re like the unicorns of the lesbian world.”

“The chupacabras of the lesbian world,” Dmitri said, then ducked the flying french fry. “You have to stop throwing things at me. We’re not twelve anymore.”

She stuck her tongue out at him.

Chris had his sketchbook out again. He hadn’t said much at all during dinner, and despite his reassurances to Mikey, Benny was a little worried about him. He smacked Chris gently on the arm to get his attention. “Whatcha working on?”

Chris turned his sketchbook around so they all could see. One big picture of the whole group spread across two pages. With a minimum of lines and a few strokes of color from the cheap waxy crayons, he managed to capture not only their individual personalities but also the feel of the long, lazy Sunday afternoon and the golden haze of the sunlight streaming through the trees.

Benny was torn between admiration for his gorgeous friend’s talent and the years of hard work he had put into his art, and total green-eyed jealousy.

“¡No mames!” Angel exclaimed, the front two legs of her chair hitting the ground as she lunged for the sketchbook.

Chris handed it to her. “Gentle,” he said.

They all crowded around her chair, looking over her shoulder. She started to flip the pages and then stopped. “Do you mind?”

Chris shook his head.

On the other pages were more charcoal sketches of them from throughout the meal. A few of each of them, and a beautiful one of Jasmine that caught her open mouth smile as she laughed in delight at something. Angel turned it so Mikey could get a better look at it.

“Oh, my God. That’s gorgeous.” Mikey looked at Chris in amazement. “The first thing Benny ever said to me about you was how talented you were. I saw your artwork in your apartment in Denver. It was amazing. But I love this.”

Chris waved for Angel to hand the book back. She did, reluctantly. Chris signed his name with a flourish at the bottom of the page and ripped it out, handing it to Mikey. “Here you go. I’m jealous of you. You have such a lovely family.”

Mikey took it and nodded, not really listening, as he stared at the picture. Benny examined the drawing, starting to see what Chris’ drawing had that he had never been able to duplicate. Chris had drawn through the eyes of someone who loved what he was looking at, and it showed.

“Fix?” he mouthed to Chris. Chris nodded towards the backpack he always traveled with.

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