“I’m fine. Mrs. Bridges says I’m good at science.” He put his pencils into his pencil case. “I got full marks in the experiment we did last week, and I got three smiley face stickers in class.”
“Are there frowny face stickers, too?”
Luka closed his book, rested his chin on the edge of the table. “I don’t know. I’m too awesome.”
Nate laughed. “So modest.”
“You should ask at the next parent-teacher conference.”
“Another one? There’s only so many times I can be told what an amazing son I have.” He leaned back to rest on his elbows. The two of them sat next to each other on the floor at the coffee table.
“Do you want me to skip class or something?” Luka raised his eyes, dimples in his cheeks as he grinned.
“Don’t you dare. As you said. You’re awesome so let’s keep it that way.”
“Okay,” he said.
Nate checked the time on his cellphone. “So, what now? You’ve ninety minutes until bedtime. A movie? Video games? Board games?”
Luka pouted as he considered his choice. “Mouse Trap or Guess Who or Battleships. Or all of them.”
“Really?”
Luka looked at him with doe eyes.
“Fine. If you’re quick.”
“Yes.” Luka whooped as he scrambled to his feet and ran toward his bedroom.
Nate chuckled and leaned back to stare at the ceiling. He was calmer than before, what Pops had said, mixed with his own feelings from hanging out with Jared had sent him spiraling. Could he really move on with someone new? He’d fought against it all this time, used Luka and the bar as excuses to keep his heart closed to the possibility of loving someone else.
It’s okay just the two of us. Me and Luka, we just need each other.
He lowered his head when he heard Luka come back into the room, a pile of game boxes in his arms.
This way is better, right? Nate’s thoughts betrayed him as Jared, his smile, continued to linger in the back of his mind.
“So, which one first?” Nate sat forward. Jared wasn’t here, Luka was.
Luka pointed at each box in turn then settled on the middle box. “Mouse Trap.”
“Come here a minute,” Nate said.
Luka crawled over. “What?”
“Closer.”
Luka sighed but came nearer, yelping then laughing when Nate grabbed him and pulled him into a tight hug.
“Ah, this is nice. Luka hugs,” Nate said and nuzzled into the crease of Luka’s neck. Time with his son was the most important thing to him.
“Itchy.” Luka tensed, raising his shoulder to his ear to squeeze Nate out of the space. He giggled as he squirmed, slipping down until he was out of Nate’s hold and laid on the floor. He lay there coughing as he caught his breath.
“You all right down there?” Nate ruffled Luka’s hair.
Luka nodded and scrambled back to the coffee table. He tipped up the box, emptying its contents onto the table. “You help, too,” he insisted and threw the sheet of instructions toward Nate, only for the paper to twist back in his direction and he grumbled.
“Coming,” Nate said and shuffled forward. He smiled as Luka spread out the various Mouse Trap parts. “So, which bit first?”
“You look after these,” Luka said and pushed the player pieces over to him.
“Yes, boss,” Nate teased and Luka grinned.
Yeah. This is fine.
Chapter Seven
The call woke Jared from a vodka-and-kisses kind of dream, and for the longest time he ignored the discordant buzzing, but the damn thing kept going until the noise fractured the warm and fuzzies he had going on and pulled him awake. Bleary-eyed, he searched for the cell, which he was sure had been right next to him but had slipped into the top drawer when he’d shoved the lube back. So much for getting off to the images in his head, then sleeping and losing himself in sexy dreams that had lasted all night long.
Moving the cell made the screen light up and he groaned and fell back on the pillow. Ethan. Three missed calls and five texts, plus ten notifications in their chat. He called him straight back, because Ethan was not only his closest friend but also his roommate, and if there were phone calls and texts and messages then there was also trouble. Ethan was synonymous with trouble, either with chemistry gone wrong or his dating messes.
“What’s wrong, Ethan?” Last he’d known, Ethan had been having dinner with his latest love, Marcus something or other, an accountant who Ethan assured Jared was not married.
There was some banging and crashing and then a woman’s voice on the phone.
“Is this Jared Williams?”
“Speaking.” Jared sat up in bed. For all Ethan’s mishaps, he’d always answered calls, and this sounded way more official than his idiot best friend.
“This is Officer Lester. We have Ethan Cooper here and he’s asking for you.”
“Here where?” Jared swung his legs to the floor then stood, already pulling clean underwear out of the drawer and doing the one-legged dance as he listened to the woman talk.
“We’d like you to come collect your friend from St Marks Memorial.”
“What’s he doing there? Is he hurt?” Fear settled in Jared’s chest.
“No,” Officer Lester explained. “He’s here because I’m purple, and he said you are listed as his next of kin.”
Jared pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it, wondering if maybe he was still asleep. Next of kin sounded way more dramatic than just emergency contact. What did she mean she was purple? She was still talking, but even on speaker phone, as he dressed, she wasn’t making much sense. Something about a boyfriend, and did Jared know what Ethan had been planning, and did he know how much a Lexus cost? Jared certainly didn’t know how much a Lexus cost, given he’d never owned a car. After all, the train tracks ran right from college to his shared place with Ethan, and nobody needed a car in the city.
“… doesn’t want to press charges, but if you don’t get here soon I might arrest him myself.”
Jared called a cab and made it to
