The young man looked around. “This place looks pretty awesome.” With longing he gazed at the computers. “Those machines are pretty sweet.”
“Do you like computers?”
Johnny’s gaze dropped to the floor. “Yeah, I’d love to learn about them, but I dunno…” His voice trailed off as he kicked the floor with his sneaker.
He wouldn’t let this kid miss out on his dreams. “I can find you someone who can help you learn the system.” After scanning the room, he found who he was looking for.
“Troy.” He waved at the big man who was standing in the doorway of the office. “Can you come here a sec?”
Johnny glanced at Tash as Troy made his way to the front. Tash supposed Johnny might be as intimidated by Troy as Tash was during their first meeting. Troy was a six-four wall of muscle who’d seen and lived the ugly side of the streets of New York. Tash was only thankful Troy hadn’t been killed before deciding to turn his life around. The man possessed a quick mind, and Jordan had sung his praises over his handling of the gun buy-back program.
“Dr. Tash.” They exchanged a handshake. “What’s up?” The man assessed Johnny with his piercing brown eyes. “Who’s the kid?”
“Johnny’s here as part of his community service by order of the court,” explained Tash. “He’s been working at the clinic and taking online high school classes to try and graduate on time.” The defeated slump of Johnny’s shoulders puzzled him. “What’s wrong, Johnny?”
Johnny hesitated, chewing on his lip. “I don’t wanna always be known as the kid who sold drugs to Dr. Jordan. I want… Shit, I don’t know what I want.” He tucked his hair behind his ears.
“I know.” Troy draped a heavy arm over Johnny. “You wanna matter and show them you’re better than some street kid. But you gotta prove it. Show ’em they was wrong about you. And you do that by what you doing right here, helping with the kids and goin’ to school.”
A myriad of emotions passed over Johnny’s face: fear, determination, and cautious optimism. “I like my classes.” He directed his conversation to the floor, perhaps out of embarrassment. Tash caught Troy’s quick nod of approval. “I kinda want to learn about computers and stuff, but I don’t know.” He shrugged.
“Why don’t you come help me with something?” Troy led Johnny toward the back. “I need someone to enter information about the guns we collected from Wednesday night’s Grins Not Guns drive. I can teach you about using an Excel spreadsheet.”
Watching the young man’s face light up, Tash prayed Johnny would never be brought back into the horrors of living on the street and dealing drugs, that this program would be the refuge he needed to turn his life around. He made a mental note to tell Jordan and thank him once again for pushing everyone involved to get Johnny the help he needed. As Troy and Johnny continued walking, their conversation grew more animated. A warm feeling of achievement enveloped Tash.
“Hi.”
Tash spun around to face Brandon. The sight of his lover brought a different kind of warmth. His libido, once stalled, now leaped into overdrive every time he set eyes on Brandon. Tash wondered if he’d ever get tired of seeing Brandon’s long, rangy body in that battered leather jacket, the hank of soft honey-colored hair perpetually hanging in his eyes.
“Hi.”
Brandon leaned forward and brushed their lips together. It surprised Tash at how uninhibited Brandon was about his sexuality, but put it down to their age difference. Most men of his age had grown up with little or no tolerance for public displays of affection between gay couples. Brandon’s generation was more liberal and accepting.
“I missed being with you last night.” Brandon pushed the hair out of his eyes. “I wish you would’ve stayed.”
“No way am I staying over with you in Esther’s house. I don’t care if you have a whole separate apartment; it would be too weird. Besides”—he winked—“you’re lucky you have a boyfriend who owns his own home so you can sleep over anytime you want. Now that Esther has Louisa, you don’t need to be as concerned if you come home late.”
Brandon took off his jacket and draped it over a chair. “Yeah. She’s great; they both are. When I came upstairs this morning, there were all these bagels and eggs and stuff.” He unzipped his backpack. “Here, Esther made me bring you something.” He handed over a paper bag.
Tash’s mouth watered as he opened the bag. “Oh damn.” Inside were two bagels with cream cheese and lox, a chocolate-chip muffin, and two pieces of apple strudel. “This is amazing.”
“One of those pieces of strudel is for me.”
“The hell it is.” Tash’s voice came out garbled as his mouth was full of bagel. “You’ll have to pry it out of my hands.”
To his surprise, Brandon grabbed him around the waist. “I like a challenge.”
He stuffed another bite of bagel in his mouth. “Bite me. You aren’t getting any of my food, no matter how adorable you are.” He pretended outrage at Brandon’s attempt to steal his food, using it as an excuse to grab Brandon around his neck and yank him closer.
“Tash?”
He peered over Brandon’s shoulder to see Valerie standing right inside the doorway, a confused look on her face. “Val.” He grinned at her and murmured to Brandon as he let him go. “It’s my sister; come meet her.”
Brandon’s hand dropped from Tash’s waist. “Oh.” The amusement fled from his eyes. “Um, sure.” He swallowed hard, uncertainty apparent in the nervousness of his twisting fingers.
He took Brandon’s hand and approached Valerie. By her raised eyebrows, he knew she didn’t miss his and Brandon’s entwined hands. After kissing her cheek, he drew Brandon, who remained half-hidden behind him, to his side. “I’m so glad you came this morning. There’s someone I want you to meet.”
Val remained silent, but Tash didn’t miss her cool assessment of Brandon. “This is Brandon Gilbert. The Brandon who is Luke and Ash’s brother.”
