“Oh, fuck.”
A sweat-slicked and shaking Frankie fell on top of me, burrowing into that safe space between my neck and shoulder. I wrapped my arms around him and held on tight until he pulled out slowly and got rid of the condom. He lay back on me and nuzzled against my cheek.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” But I had to tell him the truth. “I ain’t sure it’s always gonna be the same as it was. But I had to try.”
“I understand. The good thing is, I’m always gonna be here to help you work through whatever you need.” He kissed me.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. They took something from you, but it don’t make you less of who you are to me.”
I needed to hear him say that. “Thank you. You’re so much more than I deserve.”
“I disagree. I think you deserve the best.” His eyes twinkled. “And I am.” He laid his head on my chest and sighed.
We dozed a bit until I heard my phone vibrating on the nightstand. I had no desire to answer it. “Shut up.”
It quieted, and Frankie laughed. “You’re a phone whisperer.”
“Stupid.” I kissed him. “Are we gonna go to the house tomorrow? I wanna finish taking off the cabinets and putting in the bathroom vanity. I like the one Austin chose.”
“Good. I told him to keep it simple.” Frankie rolled off the bed. “Gotta pee.”
My phone buzzed again. Irritated, I grabbed it to shut the damn thing off, then saw a string of texts from Lennie.
Was going over the books with Pops and we’re not making enough to support four employees. Gonna have to let you go. Don’t worry about your last paycheck. Marie will mail it.
Fucker.That wasn’t it. He fired me for being gay. I punched the pillow and threw it across the room, then started to shake.
“Hey, I’m hun—” Frankie walked back in from the bathroom and saw the pillow on the other side of the room. “What’s the matter? What happened?”
My throat was too tight to talk at the moment, so I held out my phone. Frankie had never been one to hide his feelings as it was, and his cheerful expression faded, leaving him white-faced, eyes blazing.
“Who the fuck are they? Goddamn them.” He jumped back into bed with me. “It’s okay. You’ll find something else. You don’t need to work for bigots. Once I sell the stocks, I’ll have enough money so we can start buying houses and you can renovate them. Then we can sell and make money.”
Frankie continued to chatter on about how great it was all going to be, but I had a sinking feeling everything was about to blow apart.
