The perfect night.
Even sitting side-by-side in the cable car that night, as they went from one destination to another, had felt enchanted and special.
Exactly the way spending the day with him today did.
Devlin’s heart lurched as he exited the stairwell and headed for his apartment. He recalled how special Shawn and Chloe thought Garrick was too, and how very clearly Garrick adored them.
I don’t know--
“Devlin, hi.” A familiar voice stopped Devlin in his tracks. “No wonder you’re not answering your door. You’re not inside.”
Oh, no. Devlin’s heart plummeted for a second time in less than a minute. “Darren, hi.” Devlin raced to where the man stood at his door and shoved his key into the bolt lock first. “I apologize. I got caught up in my own head and lost track of time.” He clicked the second lock open and kicked the door wide.
“And I had to cancel on you yesterday, so I guess we’re even.” The blond grabbed Devlin’s shoulders and studied him through a narrowed gaze. “Where have you been? You look like you’ve been running a marathon or something. Never mind. Go shower and change. Go. Go. Go.” He walked inside, flopped down onto the couch, and grabbed the remote. “I’ll find something on TV to entertain me while you get ready.”
Shit. Damn. Fuck. Devlin looked at the impeccably dressed younger man. The guy was so attractive, and Devlin could see that he would be incredible out of his clothes. Devlin stared, but Darren’s body registered as nothing more in Devlin’s head, heart, or cock than a catalogue of lovely male features. What am I supposed to do?
Darren popped up from the sofa and turned Devlin around one hundred and eighty degrees. “Get moving, Dev.” He slapped Devlin on the ass in a way that nudged him toward his bedroom. “You promised me pizza, and I’m starving.”
“Okay.” Devlin plodded to his bedroom. “Give me fifteen minutes and I’ll be ready to go.”
Before Devlin shut his door, he lingered on the image of the sexy young thing relaxing on his couch. Not until it morphed into a dark-haired guy, frantic over a little boy possibly getting burned, did the unease within Devlin dissipate and allow him to breathe freely.
It ultimately didn’t matter what choice Garrick made; tonight, Devlin knew what he had to do.
Chapter Eight
Dusk settled over Crawford Street, and the chirping songs of crickets in hiding danced across the air. From his position sitting on the top porch step, Garrick looked over his shoulder as Grace stepped out of the house.
“Chloe is across the street at Shelby’s,” he shared, as soon as she made eye contact. “She asked me for permission. I figured you’d be okay with it so I told her to go ahead.”
“That’s fine.” Grace ran her hands through her hair and let out an audible breath. “Thank you for keeping an eye on her.”
“You know it’s my pleasure.” Garrick’s thoughts immediately raced back to the other kid somewhere inside this house. He gave Grace a moment to sit down next to him, and then somehow managed to talk through his held breath. “How’d it go with Shawn?” Garrick had told Grace about Chloe’s concerns ... as well as about his being gay.
Just let that little boy be okay. I’ll live with anything else that comes.
“Shawn is feeling like he wants to play by himself for a little while right now,” Grace said. “But he’ll be okay. He’s not mad at you; he doesn’t hate you.” She gave his knee a quick squeeze. “Don’t worry about that.”
Garrick’s throat grew tighter and he felt his mouth pull down at the edges. “I don’t care about me. He can hate me if he wants, as long as he’s all right.”
“Shawn is resilient, Garrick. Chloe is too. He’s definitely bummed out; I won’t lie about that. Shoot,” she reached a step down and grabbed one of the boy’s little action figures, “he thinks you’re Batman, Superman, and Wolverine all rolled into one.” After straightening the toy’s plastic legs, she balanced it on the porch between them. “What kid wouldn’t wish a guy like that could be his dad?”
“Mother fucking shit.” Garrick’s lungs burned a line right up through his esophagus, and he felt like he might hyperventilate. He’d never been important to someone who needed him in exactly this way. He’d never mattered to an impressionable sponge-like kid. With a sharp as a tack sister too. “Mother fucking shit.”
“Don’t lose your cool on me.” Grace’s words held the same even tone she often used to keep her kids in line. “I told Shawn the next best thing is having an awesome guy like that as a friend, and that your being his friend isn’t going to change. I promised him you weren’t going anywhere, and that just like before, all he has to do is go knock on your door if he wants to hang out. Nothing has changed.” She put her chin in her hand and pierced Garrick right through with one steady look. “Was I right in telling him that?”
A pitter-patter sensation grew in Garrick’s chest, paining him and kicking up his heart rate as he recalled his frantic urgency to hightail it out of town.
You hadn’t spent almost an entire day with Devlin when you were packing your bags last night. Hadn’t had an adult conversation with an eleven-year-old, wise young woman either.
Garrick scrubbed his face, and with one sentence, sealed his fate. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good.”
The scratch in Chloe’s voice as she’d talked about moving all the time reverberated in Garrick’s head, and he studied Grace just as hard as she did him. “How about you?”
She stayed quiet for an eternal heartbeat, first looking at him, then letting her attention wander the houses surrounding them, before coming back to him. “Don’t much feel like packing up the car and moving
