easily slouching in the comfortable chairs Finnegan’s supplied for its patio diners, where Kane’s attention often drifted to watch the people passing by. I could see what Miki meant when he said his lover couldn’t help but be a cop.
It was a bit like having lunch with a predator.
Unlike the blond terrier happily gnawing on a rib bone from his hidey hole beneath the table.
I move my backpack so it’s wedged between my chair and the wall. After a moment, I think better of the plan and pick it up to put it on the empty chair next to me.
“Good idea there, love,” Sionn growls through a sip of his beer. “Damned thing’s a menace.”
“I told you to use a hamper.” Unlike Sionn, Kane only has a touch of an Irish accent, but it’s definitely there, splashing a hint of emerald through his words.
“What kind of dog eats a hole through a man’s underwear?” the other man complains to me. “And just mine. Not Damie’s or Miki’s. Just mine. Piece of shite, that’s what he is.”
Dude continues to chew away the meat from his rib bone, stopping only long enough to snap down the potato nugget Kane slips him from the plate.
“Lima beans, Kane. That’s what he’s going to be getting tonight in his dinner. And yer the one who’s going to be smelling that all night. Long sharting green clouds whiffing up from the bottom of the bed,” Sionn promises.
“They were his favorite piece of underwear.” Kane drops his voice, but it’s still loud enough for passersby to hear him. It’s clearly no attempt on his part to be secretive, and Sionn rolls his eyes at the other man. “Had a giraffe sleeve in the front for his… thing. No wonder the dog thought it was a chew toy.”
The retaliation comes swiftly and hard with a punch to Kane’s shoulder from Sionn’s loosely clenched fist. “Piece of shite. Just like yer dog.”
“He’s not my dog,” Kane shoots back. This time, Sionn only snorts and goes back to picking out jalapeno slices from his potatoes. “How about if we get started? I’m working a shift with Kel this afternoon, and Reekhound here needs a bath.”
“Shouldn’t have been letting him chase those seagulls.” Sionn shrugs off Kane’s evil eye and winks at me. “The only thing that dog likes more than destroying a man’s belongings is rolling in bird shit.”
“I hosed him off,” Kane interjects. “I just want to scrub him with some soap. Kind of like I want to scrub Sionn’s mouth out with some right now.”
“Okay, let’s get started, then,” I agree, making sure my sneakers are out of dog-chewing reach. “Let’s start with you, Murphy. How do you pronounce your first name?”
“Ah, SHOON.” He enunciates it very clearly. “It’s rather like starting off with SHOE but stopping before you get to the end, then sliding in an Oooooo, then an Uhn. SHU-OO-Uhn.”
“But roll it together. Barely two syllables,” the other man intercedes.
“We have some very traditional names. Kane here? His middle name is EEee.” Sionn chuckles.
“It’s spelt A-O-D-H. It’s a family name.”
“EEeeeeee,” Sionn mocks him openly. “Sounds like a Sesame Street sketch, don’t it? A Muppet looking for the other half of his word.”
Kane snorts. “Thought you didn’t watch that show.”
“Damien felt I needed an education. Apparently it’s required watching. He’s an odd one, sometimes.”
“Sometimes?” The other man laughs. “Okay, next question.”
“Give me a short description of what your lovers are like,” I read off from my list. “How do you see them? Kane, you first. Miki. And what part of your soul was drawn to your lover?”
“Shit, how do I see Miki?” Kane whistles in a low drawn-out note.
“Naked.” Sionn nudges my elbow and smirks. “All. The. Time.”
“Shut up. You’re the one we caught doing it on the roof. I’m going to wash off those beanbags when I bathe the dog.” Kane appears to think on what he is going to say. The expression on his face goes from contemplative to a soft reminiscence, his wolfish blue eyes turning smoky. “I’d have to say Miki’s like drinking starlight. Yeah, sometimes it’s like trying to control a fire hose, but he’s… special. Complicated in some ways, but really, simple if you know him.
“He lives so much on instinct. He’s wary with new people, and that hurts my heart. I wish he’d not had that childhood of his, but we’re working on it. Or he’s working on it. I see him trying to trust. Learning to trust others.” Kane