Ace scowled at him, wondering if this was gonna be a thing. “We’re not gonna do nothin’ difficult,” he said. “C’mon, Sonny—we been back a week. We’re gonna be fine.”
But Sonny was taking his steps into selfhood seriously. “Sure you are. ’Cause you’re bringin’ Burton or Eric with you. You can get Eric on the way out of town, and Ernie and I can stay here and make sure Dimitri don’t pull the odds and ends off the Explorer.”
Ace grimaced. Dimitri was getting better at it, but his tendency to just… take the small shit because it was there did need some supervision so it didn’t cost them business.
Ace grunted. “Eric could use some distraction,” he said. Eric had been working in the garage along with everybody else while Ace and Jai had been recovering. Eric was, in fact, pretty good at whatever he put a mind to, and right now he was… waiting.
Waiting was a nice word for it.
Ace thought maybe helping them do a thing with some asshole named Quick John might take Eric’s mind off the thing he was waiting for.
“If Eric comes with you,” Sonny said, “you yahoos can go.”
Ace glanced over his shoulder to where Jai was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“You hear that, Jai? We’re gonna see some action.”
“Is about time,” Jai grumbled. “I shall call George. Maybe we can stop for takeout in Primm. They have that steak place—”
“Me and Burton are buying,” Ernie called from the window, where he could not possibly have heard anything they’d been saying.
Ace opened his mouth to say “bullshit,” but Sonny and Jai glared at him. Yeah, funds were tight, and there wasn’t any room for pride right now.
“Ace says that’s fine, Ernie, and we appreciate it,” Sonny called back, shaking his head. “You know, nobody told me pride was like a stick up your ass that made your mouth say stupid shit. Jasper, you need to talk to them boys, give ’em a ride to the town proper, and go get Eric before I get testy.”
Ace scowled. “You think you’re not testy now?” he asked mildly.
Sonny’s eyes narrowed. “You want me to poke your ribs and see how sore they are?” he asked, and Ace clamped his elbows self-protectively.
“Fine,” he said, trying not to sulk. “Let me call Eric and we can go.”
Yeah, he sulked on the outside, but on the inside? He liked it when Sonny got bossy. It meant Sonny thought enough of himself to have a stake in their lives. Didn’t mean Ace wasn’t still Ace—just meant Sonny was stronger than he thought he could be, that was all.
He pulled out his cell, called Eric, and asked him if he wanted to spend his day off being the Better Business Bureau, and then he asked the two fluffy bunnies if they wanted a ride across the desert to a cheap hotel.
CORT DROPPEDthe backpack with his and Orly’s clean clothes in it on top of the luggage rack and sighed. Fuckin’ car.
“Hey,” Orly asked, closing the door as the blue Kia Sportage the garage guy had borrowed to drive them to this little strip disappeared, “what do you think they meant by ‘We’ll go get your money for this,’ before they dropped us off?”
Cort shuddered, thinking about thegiantbald Russian, with that scary smile contrasting whitely with his black goatee, and the… well, very muscular young mechanic with the lazy-eyed assessment of him, Orly, and his vehicle belching smoke.
“I don’t know,” he said with a sigh, flopping back onto the bed. “All I know is I’ve got to call in to work tomorrow, and you’ve got to call your sister to move all your stuff to my house.”
“What?” Orly was staring at him.
Cort scowled back, remembering the little mechanic at the place they’d just left. He had no idea what that group of people had been talking about, but boy, he recognized a mood.
“Your sister. To move. Your stuff. To my house. Your furniture can go into storage, your clothes and personals can go in my guest room and garage. You’re being evictedtomorrow,Orly—the least we can do is get you into a place that won’t kick you out.”
“But….” Orly started talking with his hands, wildly. “But didn’t you hear me? Right before your car exploded? I’min love with you!”
Cort gave a little smile. A sad little smile. “Yeah, Orlando. I heard you. I love you too.”
“Not love,” Orlando muttered. “Although that’s….” He smiled a little, holding his hand to his heart. “That’s amazing. To hear a straight man say that to another man. You’re really the best. But I’m inlovewith you.”
“Yeah,” Cort said, rolling to his side and propping his head up with his hand. “Like, you look forward to seeing me every day. You want to hear what I think about funny things you find on the internet. Eating together once, twice, three times a week isn’t enough. You want to see me in the morning when you wake up. You want to know what I taste like, what it’s like to touch the skin under my shirt. You want to run your hands through my hair and see if it’s as soft as it looks.”
Orly stared at him. “You don’t have that much hair,” he said raspily. “It’s too short.”
