Read Online The Stars That Tremble by Kate McMurray - Free Book Online

and Sandy was interesting, particularly in the way they looked out for each other. Gio found himself hoping he met with Sandy’s approval. “How long have you and James been together?” he asked.
    “Not long. This is only maybe our fourth or fifth time out together.”
    Sandy absently bobbed his head to the music. Gio looked around the club. The music was clunky and repetitive and the décor was just this side of tacky—they seemed to be going for a kind of beachy theme, with palm trees painted on the walls and Chinese lanterns hanging from the ceiling—but the crowd was as Mike described, mostly guys in their thirties or forties, no especially raucous behavior. There was a throbbing mob of men dancing together closer to the DJ booth, though, and the dancing was unambiguously sexual and intended to attract male gazes.
    “So if you don’t go to clubs in New York,” Mike said, “what do you do with your spare time? And don’t tell me you’re all work and no play.”
    “I go to the theater a lot,” Gio said.
    Mike chuckled. “When my sister says, ‘We’re going to the theater,’ she usually means she and her husband are going to see a big Broadway musical, but somehow I don’t think that’s what you mean.”
    Gio smiled. “I like some musicals okay. But, you’re right, I mostly go to see plays. Or the ballet or the philharmonic. And the opera, of course.”
    “Of course,” Mike said with a smirk. “What else does a classy guy like you do with his off time? Do you read? Watch television?”
    “Sure, some. Well, I don’t watch a lot of television, but I read. I like a lot of the midcentury Italian writers. Calvino, Moravia.”
    Mike frowned. “Okay.”
    It occurred to Gio that Mike probably wasn’t familiar with those authors. “Do you read much?”
    Mike shrugged. “A little. I got into reading sci-fi when I was in the army. And I kind of like military thrillers. I mean, most of them get the details wrong, but they’re kind of fun too. So, you know. Nothing too brainy.”
    Gio wished he could take back his answer. He hated that he’d made Mike feel self-conscious. “Sounds like more fun than the stuff I read,” Gio said, trying to apologize. He smiled.
    Mike smiled back, so that was something. Then he closed his eyes and bobbed his head. “Oh, this is a great song.”
    With no further explanation, Mike slipped away and joined the writhing bodies on the dance floor. At first he just bobbed in time to the beat of the song, but as the music picked up tempo and layers of instrumentation and singing were added, he started to really move.
    “I probably should have warned you that Mike loves to dance,” said Sandy.
    Mike moved with a surprising fluidity and grace for a man as large as he was. He raised his arms and moved his hips and got into the music. He turned and pivoted and swayed. It was beautiful and mesmerizing.
    A guy walked up behind Mike and put a hand on Mike’s hip. Mike went with it, closing his eyes and leaning back. The guy snaked his hands up Mike’s body, smoothing over the fabric of his shirt, pressing against his chest. Mike pushed his hips back and danced with the guy. Gio suspected he should have been jealous, but instead he found the scene intensely erotic. Mike dancing was maybe the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.
    “That’s… wow,” said Gio.
    “You’re not… freaking out?” asked Sandy.
    The first guy moved on to dance with someone else and another man came up in front of Mike. Mike danced with him too, pressing their bodies together and grinding their hips briefly before shifting into different kinds of movement. This guy’s hands were all over Mike, and he kissed Mike’s shoulder.
    “Should I be freaking out?” Gio asked.
    “No. This is how he blows off steam. He’s done this for years. Whenever he has a particularly stressful week, he wants to go dancing. Then he’ll make out with half the guys in the club but won’t take any of them home.”
    “He