Ace nodded. “I was worried Healey was trying to do too much at first, but it’s been okay.”
The object of their scrutiny stood on the stage, one arm in a cast, one holding the microphone while a child produced an entire room’s worth of bubbles from an old aluminum tennis racquet. Glasses that Healey probably didn’t need rested on the tip of his nose.
Diego suddenly realized Healey was staring at him. Waiting for something? Diego met his gaze. “What?”
“Ready to start the film, Igor?”
He couldn’t help chuckling at that. He dragged out his best Boris Karloff. “Ready, master.”
Amusement crossed Healey’s face. And quiet longing. Wait. What the hell?
“Someone get the lights?” Tori called.
Volunteers scrambled. Seconds later, everyone was looking at a pair of gross gym socks, chicken legs, and . . . pimply nerds.
Andrew McCarthy. Girls doing gymnastics. Leg warmers.
“Welcome to a land that time forgot . . .” Healey intoned before leaving the stage and slipping quietly out through one of the side doors. Diego caught his slightly pained grimace and winced for him. It couldn’t be easy doing all that running around with a broken arm. Which hadn’t stopped Diego from fucking the hell out of Healey when he’d had the chance.
Of course, that was what Healey’d asked for. Wasn’t it?
In Tori’s words, “Just wow.”
Better judgment thrown to the wind, Diego followed Healey outside. He found him by the dumpster, staring up at the sky.
“See something you like?”
A sad smile crossed Healey’s face. “What’s not to like? You know there was a spike on one of the radio transmitters we sent into space? We may have found alien life.”
“That must have been kind of exciting, huh?”
“Sure.” Healey winked. “Right now, 65 million light years away, there’s probably a guy in a tinfoil hat saying, ‘Fuck. I knew it.’”
God, he liked Healey Holly. Why did liking a guy make everything so much harder?
“You okay?” Healey looked so tired. “Are you still staying at the B&B?”
Healey shook his head. “Staying with my dad’s girlfriend.”
Diego nodded. “Wondered.”
“Did you?” Healey’s direct gaze was all challenge.
Diego shrugged.
“I wondered about you too.” Healey’s voice rose.
Diego shot a side-eye glance Healey’s way. “You didn’t call.”
“You didn’t either. That’s the thing about cell phones. I’d know if you had.”
“A’ight. I know.” Diego let his head fall back. The full moon was a ball-shaped lantern behind gauzy curtains. It cast a pale halo over a church spire in the distance. “I told you I’m not good at this kind of thing.”
“On the contrary.” Healey sighed and turned to him. “I’d argue that you’re masterful.”
A spike of anger pierced him. “What do you mean by that?”
“When it comes to letting people know where they stand? You communicate very well.”
Diego fidgeted with his wheels. “Don’t be like that.”
Healey stared—he was waiting for more.
“I didn’t have a shitty time or anything,” Diego added.
“High praise.” Healey laughed. “Be sure and leave me a good Yelp review.”
“Shut up.” He reached out impulsively and slipped his hand between the buttons on Healey’s lab coat. He caught hold of a belt loop and gave it a little shake. “I met your pop up at Bayside Ridge. I guess your mom is buried there?”
Healey frowned. “I didn’t know he went out there recently. How’d he seem?”
“Okay.” Diego recalled the memory. “He went there to tell your mom about Fjóla.”
Healey sighed. “You know how they say people ‘never met a stranger’? That’s Pop. Sorry he bent your ear.”
“He’s going to send me one of his inventions. A sandwich maker?”
“You’ll like that. You can make your own hot pockets.”
The employee door at Stomping Grounds opened, and light spilled into the alley. Tori stood just inside, waiting for their attention.
Diego didn’t let Healey go. “You want to come by later?”
Tori called, “Remind me: the play clay is nontoxic, but the slime isn’t appropriate for little kids, right?”
“That’s right.” Healey patted his pockets. “Be there in a second.”
“Okay.” The door closed, and Healey did that thing—he squatted against the wall so they were on the same eye level. It was a decent thing to do and also a reminder that Healey wasn’t a trick and Diego had no right treating him like one.
“I could come by,” Healey said. “No promises, but if I get a chance? Sure.”
“Sure.” Not the enthusiasm Diego had been hoping for, but he was stupidly pleased. He didn’t want to examine the thing too closely. If he did, he’d have to face the fact that after two weeks, Healey Holly was constantly on his mind.
“You can let go now.” Healey’s amused voice.
“Right.” Diego pulled his hand back.
Healey was almost to the door when he turned. “So if I come over, I can expect to be left alone for an hour, fucked hard, and then exiled to the living room where I can either lie there wondering what I did to deserve it, or leave?”
Diego’s mouth opened, but no words came out.
“I’ll think about it.” Healey opened the door.
Healey would have left him sitting there by the dumpster like an old couch, like something too big to throw away, something that someone else might find useful but was no longer needed, except Diego rolled after him angrily.
“Wait. You want to know the truth?” he snapped.
“No, I want you to lie to me some more.” Healey didn’t turn around.
“It’s fucking creepy, is all,” Diego blurted. “I can’t sleep knowing someone is touching my body where I can’t feel it.”
Healey turned sharply. “That’s why you didn’t want me in the bed?”
“I don’t like sleeping with people anymore. Fucking toenail gouging—”
“It makes you feel vulnerable.” Healey stared at him long enough to paint a portrait.
Diego acknowledged the not-question with a bob of his head.
The wind of indignation fell from Healey’s sails. “You could have said that.”
“It’s not something I really gave a lot of thought to. There haven’t been that many guys, since . . .”
“So it’s not me, it’s you.” Healey edged a tiny bit closer. “I mean, I totally knew that. I just wanted to make sure you knew.”
“Are you going to bust my balls for every little thing?”
Healey’s amused look was patrician. “Are you going to stop looking at me like I’m the last cupcake at a birthday party and then ignoring my ass?”
“I never.”
“Please.” Healey turned around, and this time, he didn’t look back as he headed inside.
Tori stepped from the shadows, holding a couple of stuffed green trash bags.
“Eavesdropping?” Diego asked.
“Of course. I brought these from my car, but I heard you arguing and decided to let you finish.”
“What’ve you got there?”
“For the kids.” She pulled a rainbow unicorn piñata out of one bag and a SpongeBob out of another. “I want to do this during intermission so the parents can head home with the littler ones. I should have put them up earlier.”
“We can do it.”
She toed a weed growing hopefully in a crack in the blacktop. “You and Heals sound like more than a one-night stand.”
He appreciated the darkness concealing his face. “I like him, but I don’t know how to do this stuff.”
“Gossip travels fast in Bluewater Bay—”
“Is everyone talking already?”
“Not about you.” Laughter rumbled from inside Stomping Grounds. He had to hand
it to Tori. People loved her events. “Not yet. Do you know what happened with Healey’s ex?”
“There was a car accident. That’s what I heard. The ex is in trouble over it, and Healey’s not talking. Was it substance abuse?”
“Mental breakdown.” She glanced back toward the door where Healey’d disappeared. “I only heard this third hand from Sana, who got it from her husband, Sahil, but he’s in law enforcement, and he got it straight from a friend in the CHP.”
“Healey had a breakdown?” Unable to stop himself, he turned to the door where Healey’d been standing a moment ago.
She shook her head. “Ford.”
“Oh, man.” He had it all wrong. He’d figured a couple of privileged airheads got their asses handed to them by the highway patrol and everything went back to normal for them afterward. “What happened? Do you know?”
“Not the whole thing. I just have this feeling Healey is recovering from more than broken bones.”
Had Healey been that into his ex? He was on the rebound. He’d admitted as much. How long had they been together?
“If I’m right about what he’s been through,” said Tori, “it’ll be hard for him to trust someone new.”
“Then maybe he shouldn’t be trusting. Maybe he’d be smarter to keep people at arm’s length until they prove they can be trusted.”
“One—” she pinched his arm harder than he’d admit “—that smacks of victim-blaming, you asshole.”
Ow.
She rubbed the mark, making the pain worse. “And two, where’s the fun in that?”
Once he had feeling in his arm again, he and Tori scanned the area for a nice place to put the piñata. She finally hung it from the branch of one of the oak trees along the side street, under a street light so when the kids broke it open, they could find the candy.
Thankfully, that part of the evening went off without a hitch. While he was still outside supervising candy pickup, Diego texted a friend in the CHP to ask if he could get any information on a certain car accident.
For you? came the reply, Maybe. Depends. What you got for me?
Gratitude?
It’s a start. Skype?
I gotta roll home.
See you then. Looking forward to it. Long time, man. Great to hear from you.
Me too. Diego told Tori he was going home.
“I’ve got to set up the second movie?” she asked.
“It’s already set up. Just press Play.”
Together, they dodged the people returning to watch the second film. “Don’t you need your laptop?”
“That’s my spare. It’s crap anyway. I just talked to an old friend, and I want to go home and catch up with him.”
“All right.”
He almost ignored her doubtful expression, but she was a friend. He owed her. “I could stay and make sure everything works, if you want.”
She considered it. Maybe if he gave her his puppy-dog eyes? She frowned to prove she was above that sort of thing, but let him go anyway. “No, I guess not. I’ll be fine. Go home and have fun. See you in the morning. You’re a brick.”
“Only my head.” He took off.
She called after him. “You got that right!”
The last thing Healey expected when he walked into Diego’s place was soft music and candles. The smell of vanilla perfuming the air.
Diego invited him in, rolling backward. He’d obviously taken a shower and changed. He was wearing a pair of cargo shorts and a whimsical, retro Hawaiian shirt. He’d put in his piercings, sparkling stud earrings and a barbell over his left eye. His feet were bare.
Not previously a foot man, Healey still got a hot little clutch in his gut when he looked at Diego’s lovely, masculine feet.
Diego could be surly. Rude. Tough. Muscled. He was a full-on alpha dog, but his feet were big, velvety, silent paws. Healey’s mouth watered just looking at them.
“I have a confession to make.” Diego stopped before they made it to the living room.
Healey passed him and waited. “You’re not gay after all. You just fucked me to make a point?”
“Let me apologize in advance.” Diego’s voice filled with something that didn’t sound the least remorseful. Jesus. Did he even want to hear whatever made Diego’s face look so serious? He doubted he was going to get a choice. “I burned through some favors to find out about the accident you were in.”
It was a good thing Healey had been about to sit. When his knees buckled, the couch wasn’t that far to fall. “You what?”
“Believe me when I tell you I would never have done it if I knew why you wanted to keep things a secret.”
Healey’s mouth went dry. “You don’t get to decide what secrets deserve to be kept secret. If Ford’s family thinks I’m talking about this—”
“But it’s—” Diego stared at him. “What happened to you was—”
“You should never have found out.” Healey got up and walked restlessly to the window. The yard looked the same in the dark. His face, ghostly in the glass, appeared to hover over the shrubbery. “Not even addressing my trust issues for the moment, because we will get back to that, there are vital legal and medical privacy issues. Plus, it isn’t any of your goddamned business.”
“I am not sorry.” Diego didn’t budge. “Either you tell me what happened or I’ll guess.”
“If you asked around, then you know what happened.”
“My contacts indicated that the two of you were victims of a hate crime, which later became a violent road-rage incident during which your boyfriend pulled a gun and opened fire.”
“Well—”
“But that’s not exactly what happened, is it? And it is my business if this thing we’re doing”—he gestured between them—“goes any further.”
“How do you figure that?” Healey’s chin shot to the moon. “Because you’re fucking me, you get to know everything about my past? I don’t think so.”
“Can’t you see how offensive this is?” Diego closed the distance between them.
“What?” No one looked at him like that. Like he was stupid. He wanted to scrub the smug off Diego’s face. With soap.
“What do you think would have happened to you if you weren’t rich white guys in your twenties? What were you driving?”
Healey toed the ground. “Ford’s car.”
“Right. What is it? Beamer? Jetta?”
Healey shook his head.
Diego huffed a sad laugh. “It doesn’t even matter. Let me see if I’ve got this straight. Your boyfriend had a BP episode, so you decide to do a Vegas turnaround?”
“Yeah,” Healey lied. “That’s exactly it.”
Diego’s hands stilled in his lap. “Do you have any concept what would have happened to me if I had been in that situation? Or anyone with skin darker than a sheet of copy paper?”
Healey winced.
“You and your privileged boyfriend—” Diego closed his eyes. “I can’t even.”
“Ford is mentally ill.”
“He used a gun in the commission of a felony,” Diego shouted. “My God, you have to see how outrageous that is given everything that’s going on—”
“I know.” Healey held himself together while memories that were still too fresh tore him apart. “I know. I should have done something to stop him. I should have—”
“Nobody’s blaming you.”
A burst of anger escaped him as a snort. “Either you’re a hell of a lot more naive than I ever gave you credit for, or you’re deluded. Ford’s family—”
“Fuck them.” Diego hands curled into fists. “I realize I don’t have all the facts—”
“Ya think?” Healey asked furiously. “You think maybe second-guessing the last three years of my life might be a little much, even for an omnipotent guy like you?”
“Okay. Fine. Want to talk about it?”
“I can’t.” Talking about Ford made him queasy, plus . . . “Gag order.”
“Pretend I’m your lawyer, gi
ve me some cash.”
“What? Is that even legit?”
“No. Do you really give a shit?”
A lump formed in Healey’s throat. He’d become so used to keeping the events of that night secret, he wasn’t even sure he could talk about it. But he wanted to. He wanted to tell someone—not Healey, who would call him a dumbass, and not his dad, who would be disappointed and sick with worry for his future.
Did he even care what Ford and his family thought anymore?
If I talk, will I be throwing Ford under the very bus Ford’s attorney’s planned on running me down with?
A glance at the clock, the window, and the ceiling didn’t provide answers.
Diego’s eyes, though . . . Warm. Understanding. Kind.
Diego has seen way worse, and maybe he’ll help me understand everything better.
“All right.”
Those were the eyes of an honorable man.
“I wasn’t aware Ford had been rapid cycling.” Healey sighed deeply. “I was busy with my own work, my dissertation and defense. Spencer had come along for Nash, and Dad met Fjóla. Shelby was going to Spain. I wasn’t at home, but all those things affected me too. Things were changing. It was a challenging time.”
Diego led him into the kitchen. “Coffee?”
Healey shook his head. “Wine would be a whole lot better for this conversation.”
Diego flipped him off. “We have Chateau Anchor Steam or Napa Corona?”
“Beer’s good. Don’t go to any trouble.”
“Best not. I could get exhausted from all the hard work.” Diego popped the top on the counter and handed him the bottle. “Ford wanted to go to Vegas to celebrate graduation?”
Healey nodded. “Normally I love a road trip, but something felt off. We’d officially broken up. I was relieved.”
Diego brought out a plate of cookies. “How so?”
“Things felt forced for a long time.”
“Something felt off?” Diego prompted.
“He was funny. Restless. Doing carpool karaoke and streaming live Facebook videos. We fucked in the car at a rest stop, and he wanted me to blow him again in the parking lot of the Andersen’s Split Pea Soup in Santa Nella.”
“That wasn’t normal behavior?” Diego ruthlessly suppressed an irrational surge of anger. He didn’t give a shit what Healey had done before him. “Never mind, forget I asked.”
All Wheel Drive Page 17
