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"Love to," Andrew responded. Marcus flipped him off to laughter from the other players. Ben looked over at Thomas. "You staying in?"
"Yeah, let's go another round. " Thomas tried not to pay attention to the affectionate smile that crossed Marcus' face as he took the call, indicating it was more personal than business.
Though he couldn't help watching Marcus' body language as he settled into the beach chair. Was he imagining the infinitesimal tightening of his grip on the phone, the way someone did when talking to someone they cared about? The rock of his heel in the sand, the way Marcus laid his fingers over his knee, stroking his own skin absently.
Thomas couldn't hear the words at this distance, but he could definitely hear the tone.
Carl, the newest member on the team, passed Thomas the ball. Or rather, pressed it to his stomach, his other hand brushing the small of Thomas' back. His fingertips swiped just below the waistband of the cut off jeans serving as Thomas' swimwear.
"Your serve, sweetmeat. "
* * * * *
"Why the hell are you calling me when we're two weeks away from the Prague show and you owe me one more piece?"
"Well, hello and how the fuck are you?"
Marcus grinned. "If I'm nice to you, you'll think that you're hot shit and lose your focus. How are you, Josh?"
"You know how I am. I'm calling to see how you are. Lauren said you called her this morning to scope out some pretty scary symptoms. I know I'm not running late enough to cause you an ulcer, so what's going on?"
"It wasn't for me, you idiot. It's for a friend I'm worried about. To get an ulcer, you have to have a conscience. You know I was born without one. "
"Horseshit. " Josh sounded distracted, telling Marcus he probably was up to his elbows in sculpting medium, but it would be a mistake to assume his second favorite artist and closest friend was not paying attention to every word he was saying. With his next words, he proved it.
"Lauren mentioned you made a trip to North Carolina a couple weeks ago. "
"I had a craving for barbecue and pickled pigs' feet. "
"Is he with you? Did you bring him back?"
"If I hang up, you'd just call back, wouldn't you?"
"Worse. I'll pee in a jar, put an anatomically correct naked orange Gumby in it and call it a statement about the decay of a materialistic society. That will be the last Prague piece. "
"You're a vicious bastard. I talked him into spending a week with me in the Berkshires, getting his work off the ground again. Out of his ass where it had crawled. "
"Nice visual. And you and him?"
"A work in progress. "
"Keep me posted. "
"Why? Are you starting a betting pool on the Internet?"
"Absolutely. My money's on you. You said you're in the Berkshires? The Zone just bought out a fetish club up near Boston. It's been renamed Detonation, catering mainly to men. Tyler has a part interest in it. You could take your work in progress there. "
"I was planning to. But now that I know Tyler Winterman owns a part interest, I may spend my money elsewhere. "
"You're just mad because he outbid you on that Takahura sculpture. "
"There was a real samurai blade in it. I keep hoping he'll trip on it one night on the way to the bathroom and lop off his balls. "
"Ouch. Sore loser. You just can't stand the fact he's more arrogant and just as obnoxious a son of a bitch as you are. You should have come and crashed his wedding with us. He wouldn't have minded. "
Marcus snorted. "One arrogant and obnoxious S. O. B. at a function is enough. I can't believe he found a woman willing to put up with him. "
"She's a Mistress. I did a private on her that would have had you salivating. "
