Wait, was Dom a boyfriend?
The thought made him feel both silly and giddy at the same time.
“You look good, Dad. Happy.” Shane picked up his fork and jabbed a piece of lettuce out of his salad. He paused with it on the way to his mouth. “You look really happy. Work going well?”
“It is.” Abe took a bite and closed his eyes at the hit of hot mustard and pastrami. “Oh yeah, that’s the ticket,” he breathed. He took another bite and moaned. He opened his eyes at the silence across the table.
Shane looked at his boyfriend. “Dad and food.”
“It’s like porn,” Quinn said with a cheeky grin.
“Hey now, no mentioning porn in the same breath as my dad.” Shane shuddered and dug into his salad.
Quinn snorted. “Shane, I hate to break it you, but your father is a genuine hottie.” Quinn said it so matter-of-factly, he made Abe blink. “So the work is going well, you said? Did you get more orders for those custom window frames?”
“Pretty sure everyone on my street has put in an order now, so I’m booked.”
“Chairs, too?” Shane asked.
He nodded and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “A restaurant downtown put in an order for one of their rooms. Surprised me because the chairs aren’t cheap.”
“Wow,” Shane breathed. “At this rate, you’ll have to hire someone.”
“Hire someone to do my hand-carved specialty woodwork?” Abe shook his head. “Nah, I’d like my Stephens Chairs to stay made by a Stephens. Let me know if you want to learn.” He waggled his brows. “But if it stays this good, I’ll be able to do it full time. I’ll need a bigger workshop, though.”
“Oh!” Quinn said, excitement lighting up his blue eyes. “The last time I was at your house, I noticed how full your garage is getting, so I looked into a few places.” He paused and chewed on his bottom lip. “Hope that’s okay?”
“Of course it is. Thank you.”
He beamed at Abe. “So there are some places down near North Bend Road for rent that wouldn’t be too far from your house. Have you looked at those? They have reasonable prices and no noise ordinances.” Quinn picked up a baguette and tore off a hunk to dip into his soup. “I remember you said you had to start late in the morning on some of the projects because of your neighbor’s baby.”
“I’ve actually had trouble knowing when it’s okay to run the saws. Babies sleep on different schedules than we do. And another of my neighbors is elderly and she sleeps midafternoon. I know because she brought me cookies and asked if I could run the saws in the mornings.”
“So, damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”
Abe nodded. “How’s your mom doing, Quinn?”
The young man’s smile wavered a little bit and Shane’s hand slipped under the table, likely to squeeze Quinn’s leg as he’d seen him do a dozen times in the past. “She’s okay. There are good days and bad days. The doctor made a little tweak to her meds recently, and it seems like the good days are starting to outnumber the bad again, which is always a plus.”
“Definitely,” Abe said with a nod.
His expression suddenly perked up again and he smiled broadly at Abe. “She asked about you when we visited last week.”
Abe’s head jerked back in surprise. Quinn’s mother had been involved in a horrible car accident when Quinn was in college and suffered brain damage from which she never fully recovered. Quinn had explained that her memory had been bad after the accident and was growing worse with age. Abe had met Charlotte only the one time and it was over a month ago.
“That’s amazing.”
“Yeah, she was wondering if my handsome father with the killer smile was going to come visit her again,” Shane said with a leer. He stole a hunk of bread off Quinn’s plate and dipped it into his own soup.
“Hey now,” Quinn teased, smacking Shane’s hand. “You had your own and scarfed it down.”
“Yours always tastes better anyway.” Shane winked.
Abe laughed, completely pleased with Quinn, so glad he felt comfortable enough to check into something like that for Abe. He really was a part of the family already. Which meant…he needed to be here for what Abe was about to say. He might not be ready to talk about Dom, but it was time his son knew about him. The voices around him became a drone of noise and he took a deep breath. Then another. This was harder than he thought.
He wasn’t in any way ashamed of who he was; it was just telling his kid.
“I wanted to talk to you two about something today.” He cleared his throat. “I’m seeing someone.”
Shane’s grin was a flash of white teeth in the dark scruff on his chin. Scruff that held no hints of gray yet—but he was young. Abe ignored the ironic voice in his head saying Dom was the same age.
“Oh yeah?” Shane asked. “It’s about time. Where did you meet her and when do we get to meet her?”
“Well, that’s the thing.” He paused and wiped his suddenly sweaty palms on the cloth napkin in his lap. He fiddled with it until Shane cleared his throat.
He looked up to find real concern on his son’s face.
“It’s not a…her,” he blurted.
A heartbeat passed, then another, before Shane started to laugh and held his hand, palm up, to Quinn. Quinn shook his head and pulled out his wallet and handed twenty bucks to Shane.
“Wait, you two bet? Is this not a surprise?”
Shane placed his elbows on the table and leaned over it. “No, Dad, it’s not. You look at guys. You’ve always looked. I just wondered if you’d ever take the chance and act on it.”
“And I didn’t think you would,” Quinn piped in.
Abe pointed a finger at Quinn. “We’ll address how you think I’m a wuss at a later date, Quinn.” He waved the finger at both of them. “So, it’s been obvious to you both?”
Quinn nodded. “He’s right. You look.” He smiled. “So…bisexual?”
“For as long as I can remember being attracted to people. My first real crush was a boy. But then, I just fell in love early and I’m a one wom—person man.” He shook his head, then picked up his tea to wet his dry throat, trying to ignore that his hand was still shaking a little. “And here I was so worried about telling you this.”
“Why?” Shane slung his arm around Quinn. “It’s not like I’d have reason to judge that one. Not that anyone should.”
“No, but it’s different when it’s a parent, and you’ve believed something about him your entire life. I’ve always wanted to talk to you about it but wasn’t sure how to approach it.”
“I wish you had. You can talk to me about anything.” He gave Abe a pointed look. “So who is he? And I’ll repeat, when do we get to meet him?” He sat back again and pulled Quinn close, his hand cupping Quinn’s shoulder possessively, his thumb stroking him.
He’d changed so much. Was so deeply in love.
And Quinn still sometimes looked at Shane like he couldn’t believe how he’d lucked out. They were both so damn lucky.
Abe wanted that for himself now that his son was settled and happy.
“This is still too new for meeting the family. I’m still new at…everything.” Shit. That had just popped out. He really, really wished he hadn’t said that and hoped his child would think the heat on his neck had to do with the sun streaming into the restaurant windows.
“You know, I changed my mind. Maybe we can’t talk about everything,” Shane mused, his face showing some color, too.
Quinn rolled his eyes. “Abe, if you need pointers, I’ll help.”
“No!” He held up his hands, a little horrified at the thought of hearing any pointers Quinn might have learned with his son. “I’m good. I’m great.”
Both Quinn and Shane lost it then. By the time Shane was wiping his eyes with his napkin, Quinn was asking for a doggy bag.
“I have to get back to my office,” he said as he leaned over and kissed Shane’s cheek.
Shane turned, grabbed his face and gave him a loud s
mooch on the lips. “Now you’re as red as we are.” He waggled his brows. “I like it.”
“You’re incorrigible,” Quinn grouched, but one corner of his mouth rose. He looked at Abe. “Don’t think you got out of the trip discussion just because you stole the limelight with your announcement, Abe.”
“Really guys, I have too much on my plate for a trip right now.”
“But it’s your fiftieth birthday,” Shane argued.
“And now he has someone he may want to spend it with.” Quinn kissed Shane one more time, waved at Abe, then wove his way around the tables to leave.
Shane watched him the entire way with a small smile.
“I’m glad you’re happy, Shane,” Abe said, his voice low. “I’m glad you didn’t let what your mother did color how you see relationships. That you took a chance. Quinn is wonderful.”
“He’s the best. I’m the lucky one.” He tried to hold back a giddy grin and lost. “I talked him into moving in with me.”
“That’s good news! He stays there most of the time now, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah.” Shane pulled out his wallet when the waiter arrived with their bill. “But he hadn’t brought over all his things. Far as I’m concerned we were already living together, but this makes me happy. He’s the one, Dad.” He held up a hand when Abe grabbed his wallet. “I got this one. It’s a celebration of you finally coming out.”
“Feels a little anticlimactic.”
“Maybe because it’s not a new revelation for you or for me. It’s still a really big deal that you told us.” Shane leaned closer. “I’m happy for you. And happy you met someone who is putting that spark back in your eyes. You deserve it.”
Abe couldn’t help but feel like Shane wouldn’t handle the “who” part of this as well. “I don’t know that it’s anything permanent. Right now, we’re just getting to know each other, really.” He held his breath. “He makes me a little crazy, to tell you the truth.”
“Good! That’s exactly what you need.” Shane got the tab back and he signed it, then stood. “Let’s do this place again next week. I’m getting what Quinn got today. That tomato soup is amazing.”
Abe thought he’d been stealing food to mess with Quinn, so he chuckled as they left the restaurant. The summer heat was back after the short break the night before. He hugged his son good-bye, then headed to his truck. He was on Glenway Avenue when he realized the same car had been behind him when he’d driven to lunch earlier.
The hair on the back of his neck rose. Thinking he was imaging things, Abe spotted a comic shop with a T-shirt of Spiderman in the window. That could be fun to wear the next time Dom came over. Hoping they had it in his size, he pulled behind the store and parked. As he walked around and into the front of the shop, he noticed the car slowing as if the person driving was looking at him. He couldn’t see through the tinted windows well enough to know what the person looked like—only that their face was turned his direction.
The car suddenly lurched, tires screeching as it took off down Glenway.
Abe stood staring after it for a long time because that gaze had carried enough malevolence to turn all the food he ate into a burning lump in his gut.
Chapter Eight
Abe gripped the piece of sandpaper tight in his fist and sent it back and forth over the outside of his favorite window frame design. It held a tree that started thick at the bottom, growing from the bottom center, with naked branches filling the top—naked to show the flow of branches and to let light in through the window.
As a kid, he’d drawn trees often. He liked the way the branches snaked out to diverge into smaller ones and how all the lines in a drawing followed comforting parallels. There’d been a massive tree in his backyard as a child and he’d played underneath, sheltered from the hot sun. Later, he’d climbed it, especially after he and his father had built a treehouse.
He wished he had more trees in his yard now, but he’d gotten this house for a steal when a friend had to transfer jobs fast. He’d just managed to pull himself out of the financial mess he’d been in after the crash, but it had been a hard-won battle. Now, he had the house and a small nest egg for safety.
Safety had always been his priority. That and family.
He’d never understood how Patricia could throw that aside—how she could have walked out on Shane especially. God, he’d been the sweetest kid ever with his big brown eyes and dark curls. A bubbly baby who belly-laughed at everything. Abe had loved him instantly and been sad that his own parents had never gotten over his young fatherhood. They’d been so angry and had just started really being a part of Shane’s life when they’d been killed in a car accident. Shane had been only two years old.
For the longest time, it had been Abe, Patricia, and Shane against the world. Then she’d grown tired of the financial struggle. She’d always been kind of selfish, but her true colors had come shining through the more bitter she’d grown.
He moved the sandpaper over the trunk, pushing memories of his ex-wife away and moving on to Dom. He flashed back to that kiss under the stars and his hand paused. Fuck, that kiss had been nice. Just like the ones they’d had here the night before.
Though nice didn’t really describe those. Holy fuck, had that been something. He’d never felt such excitement and…heat.
It had been so long since Abe had felt anything like that and even now, a kind of giddiness filled him at the thought of doing more with the man. It had been all he could do not to cart Dom the few steps to his couch last night. What would it feel like to lie on top of him and feel all that heady strength and smooth, smooth skin underneath him? He’d felt the scars the night before, but they hadn’t detracted from Dom’s beauty at all. Those scars made him feel more real, more human, than the almost godlike Adonis he appeared to be most of the time. He wanted to spend time tracing his fingers along them, learning them. Learning every inch of the man.
He wanted to go to Dom’s now, but showing up three nights in a row would look pretty damn needy.
He paused again. Worry intruded on his happy memories of their moments together. He’d never seen Dom so upset, so on the edge of panic. The guy always had a smile on his lips, that look of happy-go-lucky ease and contentment. The way he’d left Abe’s house last night was wrong.
And what about the car following him? Pretty coincidental, considering the stick figure drawings showing up everywhere.
A return of the restlessness that had been driving him crazy lately crept through him.
Was all this a midlife crisis? The agitation, the paranoia…Dom?
He swore and stood to throw the piece of sandpaper, but it wasn’t a very satisfactory heave since it only went a couple of feet before hitting the floor. He should throw something larger.
Or just do what he damn well wanted.
Abe stomped through his house to shower the sweat off his body and not long after, he was steering his truck to Dom’s. He opened and closed his hands on the steering wheel and by the time he’d gotten to Mount Airy, he’d realized fear was tearing him up. That a genuine feeling of wrongness had been plaguing him since the first drawing. And there’d been something in Dom’s expression the night before that told him the messages were not good.
But what could they be? They looked like children’s drawings.
He knew the man was a badass fighter with skills in martial arts, but Abe found he wanted to look out for him. To protect him just like he knew Dom would do for him.
He pulled in to the right of Dom’s car, turned off his truck, his heart beating like a bass drum in his chest. Maybe this was a bad idea. Dom was a freaking professional bodyguard. The man was trained to handle intense, dangerous situations. What was he hoping to do? He turned the key again, planning to pull back out, but Dom stepped out onto his deck and grinned at him. The absolute mischievous slant to that smile told him that the guy was reading his mind. There was a lot in that smile. Delight and amusement—like he was thrilled Abe had come but knew he was about to f
lee.
So instead, he took a deep, calming breath. They wouldn’t have to do anything he wasn’t ready for. He got out of the truck and his cell phone clattered to the concrete. He kneeled to swipe it up and something caught his eye. He gasped when he realized it was another, different set of stick figures.
This time, some asshole had keyed them into the side of Dom’s beautiful, white Beretta. He aimed his phone at the symbols, hoping Dom couldn’t see the flash.
“What are you doing out there?” Dom called out.
He hurriedly pocketed his phone and stood. “You aren’t going to like what I’m looking at, Dom.”
Dom came down the steps and around his car.
“Jesus Christ!” He strode close and kneeled, his chest heaving. “That sadistic motherfucker.”
“Do you know who’s doing this?”
Dom just…deflated. His shoulders slumped, his eyes closed, and he put both hands in his hair. Then it was like a switch had been flipped, and he was looking into the dark shadows of the trees surrounding his property, his body alert and tense.
“Dom?”
“We gotta talk, Abe. But we need to do it inside, okay?”
“Anything,” he said softly, clasping his hand on Dom’s shoulder. “I’m here for anything you need. I’d like to know what’s going on. What’s upsetting you.”
He just nodded, then surprised Abe when he took his hand off his shoulder and threaded their fingers together. He tugged. “Come on. This is going to require a stronger drink than beer.”
Abe hated the sound of that.
Dom’s mind raced as he led Abe inside. He let go of his hand and walked through the house into the kitchen, where he kept the good booze in one of his upper cabinets. He poured them each a glass of bourbon.
He couldn’t tell him everything because it would kill him to see what Abe was starting to feel for him fade out of those beautiful eyes. He stared into them as he handed Abe a glass. They were such a gorgeous shade of brown, warm and caring. They could fill with passion so fast, it made Dom’s head spin. The man made his head spin.
Sadistic Sherlock (Ward Security Book 4) Page 8
