Troy seemed to be having trouble coming up with words, but the gleam in his eyes made Jared’s heart pound.
“Can I ask you out on a date again? I mean, you kind of already agreed when you sent me that text message earlier,” Troy got out in a rush, causing warmth to bubble up in Jared’s stomach and pretty much leave him giddy.
It hadn’t been fair on Troy to let his insecurity and resurrected fear over Kevin being in town get in the way of what he wanted with Troy. Ever since he’d seen Kevin, he’d been jumping at shadows and on edge every time he left the house. But he didn’t want to live that way. He couldn’t go back into that dark place. He had to believe Kevin had heeded Del’s warning and left town. He was going to go on a date with Troy, leave the past where it belonged, and focus on his future, unexpected as it was with two teenage boys in residence.
Instead of yelling hell yes in response to Troy’s question like he wanted, he touched an index finger to his own chin and pretended to think about it really hard. “Hmm, I don’t know. I’m like a single dad now. I probably should put the kids first—”
Troy made a growling sound that sent tingles down his spine, and launched himself forward to pin him on the couch cushions. Having Troy on top of him immediately sent his thoughts into them being in this exact position but with fewer clothes and without three teenagers sitting a few feet away.
“Stop sassing me and say yes,” Troy ordered, clearly not willing to take no for an answer or get blown off this time.
Troy leaned over him with both hands braced on either side of his head, effectively trapping him in place. It would be a problem if he wanted to escape. To be clear, he didn’t want to go anywhere. He was pretty sure if he could stay exactly like this for the rest of his life, he’d die a happy man.
“I’m really not sure,” he replied, injecting an exaggerated note of uncertainty into his voice, because teasing Troy was just too much fun, especially when it cranked up the determined intensity in those gorgeous brown eyes. “I might need some convincing that it’ll be worth my time.”
“Oh yeah?” Troy leaned down a little. “And just what would convince Jared Winters it’d be worth his time? Steak? Beer? Wine? Flowers? A foot massage?”
“You’re getting warmer with massage. Though maybe you could massage somewhere a little higher up.” He tried to resist shifting restlessly underneath Troy’s weight, but that urge was almost drowned out by the yearning to press every part of himself against the other man.
“Oh, so your shoulders,” Troy replied with a completely straight face. “You got a deal. What time should I pick you up tomorrow night?”
He huffed a thwarted sigh. “That’s not even—”
“Nope, deal is done. How about seven?”
“Why do I get the feeling no matter what I say, you’re still going to be on my doorstep at seven tomorrow night?” He sent Troy a fake pout.
“Because I totally will be.” Troy finally dropped the few inches separating them and caught his lips.
Jared sighed into the kiss, a weird mix of relief and anticipation flowing through him that was utterly intoxicating. Just as he finally got his hands on Troy to pull him more firmly down on top of him, a large cushion hit them both in the side.
Troy knelt up, grabbed the pillow, and tossed it at Tate with a laugh—apparently he’d been the culprit, but all three boys were watching them with varying expressions of exasperation. Truthfully, for a second there he’d completely forgotten he and Troy weren’t alone.
“Is this going to be a thing now? Like every time I turn around, you’re lip-locked with your hot park ranger?” Tate complained, pretending to smother himself with the pillow after he caught it.
“You’re just jealous,” he shot back, untangling his legs from Troy’s and scooting back.
Yep, real mature.
“Duh, of course I am,” Tate replied, like it should have been obvious.
“Don’t worry, Tate, I’ll spare your delicate sensibilities for the rest of the evening.” Troy got to his feet, pulling his phone out of his pocket to check the screen. “I have to get going. The Everness High midsummer bonfire is on tonight, and I’m on chaperone duty.”
“That thing is chaperoned?” Tate’s brow creased in confusion. “I don’t remember seeing any chaperones the last few years I went.”
“I’m surprised you remember last year at all, considering you called me at midnight to come get your drunk ass because your buddy, Cliff, picked up one of the cheerleaders and left you without a ride home,” he said, determinedly ignoring the disappointment Troy was leaving so soon. He’d been all ready to suggest a movie and settling in for the night.
“Oh shit, that’s right.” Tate laughed as if he really had forgotten about it. “That was some night, though.”
“It’s not technically chaperoned,” Troy said, answering Tate’s earlier question. “A few park rangers are always on hand to make sure there’s no incidents in the park. Things like underage drinking.”
Troy gave Tate an awesome evil eye, leaving his younger brother looking sheepish.
“We were planning to go,” Aaron piped up.
Jared glanced between Lewis and Aaron, both kids with hopeful expressions on their faces.
“I don’t know,” he replied slowly. “I remember going to those things, and they could get pretty wild—”
Oh God. This was it. He’d gotten old. All he could think about was the fact Lewis and Aaron were now his responsibility. He remembered some of the mischief he and his friends had gotten up to at the annual Everness High midsummer bonfire night. The recollection made him want to lock all the doors and windows to keep the pair inside.
“Come on, Jared,” Tate wheedled in his best ten-year-old voice. “It’ll be fine. I’ll go to keep an eye on them.”
He was pretty sure his eyebrows hit his hairline as Troy laughed.
“Why do I feel like they’d end up in more trouble with you supervising them?” Troy asked, crossing his arms and looking intimidating since he still had his uniform on.
Tate eyed him warily. “If nothing else, lawman, trust I’m not dumb enough to cross you.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” Troy relaxed his stance slightly, grin turning wolfish.
“So can we go?” Lewis asked eagerly. “We really do promise to behave.”
Troy glanced at him helplessly, as if the decision had already been made and was out of their hands.
He threw up both arms in defeat. “What, so you all are going out and I have to stay home alone in my pj’s?”
Tate made a face. “I suppose you could come hang out with us, but it’d be kind of lame, don’t you think?”
“Says the guy who graduated last year but is apparently going back to relive his glory days.”
“Shut up!” Tate said with a laugh. “At least I’m not old.”
“He’s right, Jared,” Troy cut in with mock horror. “We’re so old.”
“Doddering,” he agreed with a serious nod. He turned to face Troy. “Do you have my little blue pills for later? I can’t remember where I left them. I’m definitely going to need them if we want to—”
“Ugh! Okay, stop already!” Tate covered his ears with his hands while Lewis and Aaron looked like they didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or amused.
“Don’t worry, old man.” Troy caught his hand and pulled him in. “You can come supervise with me. I’ll make you an honorary park ranger for the night.”
“Mmm,” he replied, sidling closer. “Do I get one of those sexy hats to wear?”
Tate made a gagging noise as he got to his feet. “Please, for the love of all that’s holy, save the PDA and vomit-inducing sexy talk for when I’m not in the room.”
Tate led the other two boys down the hallway toward the bedrooms so they could start getting ready, leaving him and Troy alone at long last.
“So, high school bonfire for our first official date?” He slid his arms around Troy’s waist. “It’s a bit c
liché, but I can roll with it.”
“This is not a date.” Troy wrapped his arms around him and then leaned in to lightly skim his lips up his neck. A shiver chased in wake of Troy’s mouth. “Think of it more like bring your boyfriend to work day.”
“I suppose I can make do with that.” He shrugged but then got distracted when Troy’s searching mouth found his.
Jared sank into the kiss, not deepening it or demanding more but simply enjoying the moment and letting himself lose time to the feel of Troy against him, wallowing in the magic his lips and tongue could create.
The rowdy voices of the boys made them pull apart, but before Troy let him go altogether, he leaned in to brush his lips against Jared’s ear.
“We’ll pick up where we left off later.” Troy winked as he stepped back, then turned to yell the question of whether the trio was set to go for a fun but noneventful night.
Jared’s feet remained rooted to the spot for a long moment as Troy’s words tripped around his mind. Later? Did that mean Troy was expecting to spend the night with him? Or even just do something else after the bonfire, although it was sure to finish late into the night? Or did he mean later as in next time they saw each other and were alone for more than two minutes?
Why was he even wondering? As long as there was a later, he was totally on board.
Yes, he’d been unsure if he was ready for another relationship after Kevin, but his ex showing up here unannounced in the worst kind of surprise in history just made him see that he didn’t want to give Kevin any kind of power over him. By letting the fear of opening himself up stop him from being with anyone, he was still allowing Kevin to affect his life, even though two years had passed. And with Troy embodying the absolute opposite of everything Kevin was, who better to move on with?
The low-level anxiety that’d been simmering within him ever since Kevin had ambushed him outside his house flared hotter for a moment. Except it just made him frustrated because he had to keep reminding himself that Kevin had more than likely taken Del’s warning to heart and left town with his tail between his legs like the cowardly bastard he was.
A shadow of apprehension hung in the back of his mind, however, refusing to dissipate. Kevin had always been a possessive, stubborn asshole, and part of him just couldn’t believe he was going to get off the hook so easily.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THE FIVE of them bundled into Troy’s SUV and drove the short distance to the Sam Houston National Forest. The whole way, Tate tried to convince him to put on the lights and sirens, even getting Lewis and Aaron in on the nagging.
He’d given them one quick burst on a deserted stretch of road, which the trio had been highly entertained by. It had swiftly turned into Tate begging to take a turn driving, but he’d drawn the line at that one. He was pretty fond of his job, after all, and didn’t relish explaining to Buck why he’d let the younger brother of his new boyfriend drive a federally funded park asset.
The narrow road leading into the park was unusually busy, both with teens arriving who’d driven themselves and parents making the drop-off. Most people moved out of the way when they saw his park ranger vehicle, so it didn’t take them too long to arrive at the lakeshore, where the bonfire was already alight and music was blaring from a huge set of speakers set up in the back of a pickup truck.
He pulled into an empty spot and turned to look at Jared, while the three boys practically scrambled out of the car.
“I need to head up to the station for a few minutes. You want to come with or wait here?”
Jared was looking through the windshield at where Tate was greeting some friends and introducing Lewis and Aaron around to the older kids. The pair looked like they were in heaven.
“I better stay here and begin chaperoning. Tate talks a good game, but I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.”
He gave a quick laugh. “Smart man. I won’t be long.”
Jared leaned in for a brief kiss, then climbed out of the SUV to unobtrusively trail after his brother and the other two boys.
Troy navigated the busy parking lot and then took the road to the rangers’ office. He’d thought maybe Hallie would be about, but the office was dark and locked up, so obviously she’d already made her way down to the lakeshore with the other two park rangers who’d volunteered to be on duty tonight.
He grabbed a larger first aid kit to throw in the back of his SUV, then checked a couple of things on his desk, reminding himself of a few issues he needed to follow up on Monday. The outer door banged and he glanced up, but couldn’t see anything through the doorway of his office.
“That you, Hallie?” he called out, expecting an affirmative. He didn’t hear anything but a few uneven clomping footsteps, so he hurried out, thinking someone had seen the lights and come in for something.
He stepped into the main room, only to find it empty. He side-stepped to check no one was hiding behind the counter and had just started telling himself he’d been imagining things when the violent tinkling crash of broken glass made him jump.
“What in the damn hell—” He’d barely gotten over the shock of the first window breaking when a second one caved in.
Troy sprinted out the door, then skidded to a stop almost immediately when he spied Benny Sadler drawing back his arm to throw a rock at another window.
“Hey!” he yelled out, anger clipping the end of the word.
Benny was already in motion but jerked a little at the sound and the rock missed its mark, hitting the logs to the left of the window and bouncing away harmlessly.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demanded, stalking closer to the man who glared at him with red-rimmed eyes. Not wasted, but definitely not sober.
“I came here looking for you.” Benny stooped down to pick up another rock, and Troy drew up short in case the asshole decided to use it as a weapon. “Where’s my boy?”
“Aaron is no longer your concern.” He crossed his arms, struggling to keep a tight rein on his anger. If he lashed out at Benny, it would only escalate things. But that fury pushed up from low in his gut every time he recalled Aaron getting viciously kicked for simply trying to clean up the empty beer bottles. And now the asshole was here throwing rocks through the station windows like a damned ten-year-old having a tantrum. Sherriff Hayes would definitely be getting a call in the next few minutes.
“Like hell! You know those assholes from CPS come to see us today. Askin’ things that ain’t no one’s business. You called them, didn’t you? Told them a whole load of lies about me.”
Clearly, Benny didn’t share the same compunction about holding on to his temper and talking about this civilly.
“I called them,” he admitted without hesitation. “I’m duty bound to report possible cases of child neglect or abuse. In case you’ve forgotten, Mr. Sadler, you kicked Aaron right in front of me this morning. I couldn’t let that stand.”
No matter what the man said, he didn’t regret making the phone call for one second. Especially now the kids were in Jared’s very capable hands.
“How I discipline my son ain’t got nothing to do with you or anyone else. Now tell me where he is!” Benny advanced several steps closer, fist clenched around the large rock and wild anger obvious in his eyes.
Did the guy really see nothing wrong with the way he’d treated Aaron? He couldn’t understand how a person could lack even the most basic empathy for their own flesh and blood. This was all bringing back his own feelings of helplessness and the guilty relief when it’d all been over. He’d spent long, hard years burying those memories; now this drunk asshole was dragging them all out into the light of day.
“Even if I could tell you, Mr. Sadler, I wouldn’t. From what I’ve seen, you don’t deserve to know a thing about Aaron for the rest of his life. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to call the sheriff and clean up another one of your messes.” He turned his back on the man, done with this conversation. His skin felt too hot and tight, frustration a
nd fury smoldering in his veins. The boys were safe; it was all that mattered. Whatever Benny Sadler did with his days from now on wasn’t his concern.
“You can’t keep him from me!”
He sensed more than saw Benny coming up behind him and ducked out of the way, leaving the man stumbling into the wall on an overswing of his fist.
For a moment he second-guessed the wisdom of bringing Lewis and Aaron to the bonfire on the lakeshore in case Benny or Hal went down there for some reason and spotted them. But it wasn’t likely, he hoped. The two men probably wouldn’t crash a party of teenagers, and even if they did, between the sheer number of teens in attendance, the darkness, and the likelihood of both men not being completely sober, he doubted they’d be able to find the two boys even if they were standing right in front of them.
“It’s not up to me. Aaron is in the system now. Getting angry at me and breaking windows won’t do you any good.” And if the guy stayed here much longer, he wasn’t going to be able to keep hold of his own temper and resist paying him back for a few of the bruises Aaron had. He grabbed the man by his stained shirt collar and propelled him across the porch to the grass beyond. “Maybe you should consider sobering up before the sheriff comes to talk to you about vandalism and property damage.”
He thrust Benny away, but as soon as he let him go, the older man swung around to face him. Troy tensed, expecting him to launch another physical attack—the man seemed to have no compunction about using violence to solve his problems.
But while Benny was breathing hard and his face had gone a mottled red color, he simply held his ground and stared at him. The gleam in his dull gaze was calculating and predatory.
“Maybe it’s out of your hands and into God’s now, but you started all this when you stuck your nose in my business. When you made that call to those CPS assholes. You did this to me. You think a couple of broken windows are a problem? You’re gonna regret ever laying eyes on my kid. I’ll make sure of it.”
Burn It Down Page 13
