Chapter 1

Carey Thornton leaned back in his chair,propped his feet on the registrationcounter set up inside the Jefferson Ballroom of the Omni Hotel and ConferenceCenter,folded his hands behind his head,and closed his eyes.There had been a sign-up sheet for hotel staff who wanted to work the Richmond Annual Comic Book Convention,but for the life of him,Carey couldn’t remember writing his name on it.Sure,it was overtime,but was it really worth it?After staying out way too late the night before with his friends,he didn’t think anythingwas worth waking up for this morning.“It should be illegal to make me work this early,”he muttered to anyone who cared to listen.

“You’re not working,”his friend Bill Jenkins pointed out.

Though he had been one of the friends out with Carey the previous evening,Bill was too damn hyper to be tired.He lovedcomics,lived for them,and even sported a DawnT-shirt today,crisp and black with a voluptuous redhead dressed in green lingerie draped across his chest.Carey didn’t see what Bill saw in pictures like that.As far as Carey knew,Bill liked guys,but sometimes?Sometimes he had to wonder about him.

To be honest,Bill was the one who was supposed to be working the registrationcounter,not him.Carey had pissed off the project coordinator,Shonda Murray,a few days before and ended up with maintenance detail.His job was tocheck the booths and make sure they were stable.He also had to keep an eye outfor OSHA hazards,whatever those might be.Carey thought that might mean no frayed electrical cords or spilled drinks or kicked up carpets,shit like that.

Trouble was,Carey didn’t feel like doingthat.At the moment he didn’t feel like doing anything—he was still feeling the club and the music beatingthrough his head.He wondered if it were too late to call in sick.

Bill squatted over a box full of blank nametags and pens and rolls of door prize tickets,things that had to be set out across the table in a fairly organized fashion before the show started,and Carey didn’t offer to help.Let Bill do it all.Not because I’m lazy,he told himself,trying to pretend he could catch another ten minutes of sleep,but because he’s anal.He’s good with the details.

Still,that didn’t seem to fly with his friend.Pushing up his wire-frame glasses with one hand as they threatened to slide down his face,Bill asked,“Carey,a little help here,is that too much to ask?Why am I doing all the work?”

“I’m out of bed,aren’t I?”Carey shifted in the chair,trying to get comfortable,but couldn’t seem to find a way to sit that didn’t make his assgo numb.“And I’m at work.Hence,I am working.”

“Your logic astounds me.”

Carey grinned and opened one eye to watch his friend.Bill’s mousy bangs spiked up from his pale forehead,not so much as a fashion statement but because he’d run his hands through his hair so often this morning,it now stood up on its own.Behind his thick glasses,his pale eyes glared at Carey with a baleful expression.Five years ago in high school,Carey didn’t sparenerdy guys like Bill the time of day.Funny how his circle of friends had changed now that he worked full time and didn’t get much chance to meet people other than his own co-workers.

“What?”he asked with a shrug.

Bill shook his head and bent over the table,where he lined up a row of free Omni pens.He tapped them flush against the edge of the table to make sure they were even and straight.Carey stifled a laugh.See?Anal.He thought maybe Bill’s boyfriend would agree.He’d have to remember to ask Tyreese the next time he saw him,just because he knew it would embarrass the hell out of his friend.To hear Tyreese joke,Bill liked it up the ass.

“If you’re not going to help me…”Bill started.

“I am helping.”Carey grinned.“I’m supervising.You’re doing great.Keep up the good work.”

Bill shot him one of his patented go to helllooks,the ones he saved especially for him.“You can start checking the booths,”he said,placing aclipboard and pen on the table between them.“Make sure everyone’s here.”

Carey glanced around the large convention hall and sighed dramatically.It wasn’t even six in the morning yet and already the room was crowded with vendors setting up their booths.Someone dressed like Wolverine prowled by the continental breakfast Shonda had set out earlier,and Carey thought he had seen Catwoman heading for the restrooms.Everyone else was busy unboxing cards and comic books and action figures.Everywhere he looked,he saw nothing but toys.And most of them were so damned expensive…Carey couldn’tbelieve some of the prices these people were trying to get away with here.

Sinking farther into his chair,he muttered,“I hate comic book conventions.”He wasn’t going to get up and do any work until he absolutely hadto,that was all there was to it.Let someone else walk around and take a head count of the freaks.Let Wolverine do it.The way he’s chowing down on those croissants,he’ll be busting out of those tights by noon.

“You’re just pissed.”Bill laughed when Carey didn’t argue.Writing his name on a nametag,he stuck the sticker onto his T-shirt and balled up the backing to toss it at his friend.It fell pitifully short,landing atop the pens on the table.“Ever since I suckered you out of Vic and Matt number one—”

“You didn’t sucker me,”Carey replied,but it was hard to keep the bitterness out of his voice.“I didn’t want it anyway.”

Bill laughed and smoothed down his nametag.“Twenty bucks!”he cried.“When you’re walking around,make sure you take a good look at what it’s going for nowadays.I don’t want to rub it in or anything…”

“Then shut up,”Carey told him.

Bill laughed again and bent over the box,rummaging for the rest of the supplies.

Across the room,Bill’s boyfriend Tyreese Jones entered the hall.A lanky,thin black man with short dreadlocks and sinewy bare arms,Tyreese wore the red vest and black pressed pants of a valet.For a moment he stopped and pushed his sunglasses up onto the top of his head,squashing down those dreads as he looked around.When he spotted Bill,leaning down in front of theregistration desk,a grin like oil slid across his face and he started in their direction.

Carey watched his wolfish lope,the way he moved like water,the slight grin on his thin lips,and felt a twinge of jealousy stab in his chest.I want someone who looks at me like that.Not Tyreese,necessarily—the guy was a bit too intense for Carey’s liking.What he and Bill saw in each other,Careywould never know.But someone who snuck up on him,as Tyreese was doing now,who went out of his way to surprise him at times,who wrapped his arms around Carey and kissed him silly.Someone he could wake up beside,was that too muchto ask?He was tired of sleeping alone.

As Tyreese approached,he placed a finger to his lips to keep Carey quiet.Bill hadn’t seen him yet,he was so intent on laying out the freebies on the registration table.Carey waited until Tyreese reached out,hands inches from Bill’s hips,before he said,“Hey,Tyreese.”

Bill turned,already smiling.“Hey,babe.”