Tommy shook his head. “I was just there. And Ru is still there. He’d have heard something and called the cops.”
Bas put his phone away. “Can we make a detour and pick up a friend of mine?”
“Sure.” Tommy pulled out his phone and dialed the driver, though none of them could see him through the partition. “Where are we going?”
“United Hospital. She said she’s waiting by the main entrance.”
“Is your friend okay?”
Bas glared out the window, his expression a mask of neutrality. Apparently there was a lot he wasn’t saying.
“We’ll find out, won’t we?”
The drive through the city reminded Dane of most other cities he’d been to. The one major difference was the piles of snow that made seeing around corners impossible. He was so glad he wasn’t driving. Adam tried to draw Bas out of the shell that he’d retreated inside, but the man wasn’t talking. Why was he so upset by this? Was this a lover? The thought made Dane’s gut lurch. Bas was a nice guy. It was okay for him to have lovers. It shouldn’t have bothered Dane, but it did.
But Bas was gay, so why would a girl be his lover? No, they couldn’t have been together that way. Dane’s father always said that gay men jumped from one lover to the next, never committing, and they never got with girls. But Ru and Adam were committed to each other. And Bas said he was looking for someone to dream of forever. Dane shook his head. None of it made sense. Why did he need to think of Bas like that at all or who this girl might be?
Dane’s therapist said it was the actions of a person that made them bad, not their sexual orientation. He sighed to himself, hating all the circular thoughts in his head. Was he gay? What if he liked girls too? What if he didn’t like anyone? He’d never thought about sex as something that could be enjoyed, but Adam said he liked what he and Ru did together. And Adam didn’t seem like some sort of weirdo. So it had to be normal, right?
“Who’s the girl? Someone from school?” Adam asked.
Bas shook his head. “She’s a girl I’ve helped a few times at the shelter. She the usual story—kicked out by her parents and on the streets trying to survive—and comes around the shelter only enough to get a meal and a hot shower once in a while, otherwise she sleeps outside. And we all know how this winter has been,” Bas said. “I see her and I think of how much worse it could have been for me without my gran, you know? I think that Gran would have liked to make a place where she could have saved some of these kids.”
“I heard you were talking to your lawyers about making it a private group home. That’s a good idea. But how will you screen applicants?” Tommy asked.
Bas stared out the window as they pulled onto the street beside a large hospital.
“They have to want to survive.Thatis key. I’ve met so many who are already dead inside. They’re just waiting for the reaper to show up.” The car parked in the drop-off area, and Bas got out, closing the door to keep the warm air in.
“Is he going to be okay?” Dane asked Adam and Tommy. They knew Bas better than he did, but Dane didn’t like seeing him so withdrawn.
“Yeah,” Adam replied. “Bas is strong. He’s had some bad stuff happen, but he’s still moving forward. I don’t think this is going to set him back. He’s got a big heart, so he just likes to help people. He feels really bad if hecan’thelp them.”
The door opened a second later, and Bas got in followed by an attractive girl with dark copper curls wearing a dress far too thin for the weather and no coat. Her pale face was covered in freckles and splotches of bruises. Damn, who would hit a girl? Dane clenched his fists at the idea. He didn’t know where his deadbeat SOB father was, but he remembered how the man didn’t discriminate about who he was going to beat up next. He hoped whoever hurt this girl wasn’t family and that she wouldn’t be seeing them again.
She sat next to Bas on the other side, putting her friend between her and Adam, who she obviously didn’t know. She adjusted her skirt and looked away from them. Tommy stripped off his jacket and passed it across to her.
“You must be freezing,” he said.
“Guys, this is Paige, a friend of mine. Paige, these are my friends, Tommy, Dane, and Adam.”
Paige shook her head at the coat.
“I don’t want to take that from you. You’ll need it.” Her voice was low and sultry. Dane couldn’t help but stare. She was pretty in a sweet girl-next-door sort of way and had no makeup on or product in her curly hair. She looked a lot like the Irish girl from the recent Disney movie. It was then that he noticed a slight Adam’s apple on her slim throat.
“Holy fuck, you’re a boy,” Dane said before his brain could remind him that he shouldn’t stick his foot in his mouth.
Silence took over as the car made its way back to Bas’s house.
“Just because I was born with a penis doesnotmean I’m a boy.” She glared out the window, blinking back tears.
Bas gripped her hand. “It’s okay, sweetie. Let’s get you to my place and warm you up.”
“You can drop me off here downtown, and I’ll stop bothering you. The hospital just wouldn’t let me leave on my own.”
Tommy unbuckled his seat belt and slid across the space to wrap his discarded jacket around her. He even reached out and brushed her red curls over her shoulders so they could fall free.
“Let’s get you warm. We have dinner waiting at Bas’s house. We’ve spent the whole week making it livable, just waiting for people who need a home.” Tommy glanced at Bas, who nodded. “For people who need a chance, if they want it. Don’t mind Dane. He says stuff without a filter, but it’s not meant to hurt you. It’s just his way of working things out in his own head. And if he does say something to hurt you, it means he’s uncomfortable and hurting himself.”
