As Henry took him in, now sitting in a white plastic chair, Colton appeared to be purposely avoiding any kind of eye contact. His dark brown hair was almost chestnut and cut short, slightly greying at the temples. It would be wrong to describe Colton’s face as beautiful or classically handsome, since his chin and cheekbones were quite broad, and his nose had a slight bend suggesting it had at some point been broken. A pale scar slid through Colton’s left eyebrow and the few wrinkles around his hazel eyes gave an impression of a weather-beaten look.
He had to be at least in his late thirties and, since Henry had always preferred his men older, he silently swore at himself. It was just his luck that this sexy stranger oozing masculinity should appear in his clinic at 4 a.m. on a Thursday morning. Since returning to Hayley’s Peak, Henry had been going through a sexual drought, only a few, brief encounters short of living as a monk. Mostly the hook-ups just left him dissatisfied at best but only too often depressed and numb.
“I’m just going to do a superficial examination in order to rule out any fractures or internal bleeding. Does it hurt anywhere? Any trouble breathing or stinging chest pain?” Henry looked questioningly at Colton.
“No, look, everything is fine. The air bag took most of the blow and the cuts are no worse than what I’ve had during a fight back in the day,” Colton replied while fidgeting in his seat. From the looks of it he just seemed eager to get out of the clinic.
“That may very well be, Mr. Dietrich, and you’re probably right, but I’m going to get the local authorities on my back if I just leave you to bleed out in the street.” He opened a drawer, pulling out some cotton pads and a bottle of some mild soap.
“Look, I’ve had a really long day. My flight was delayed, and I should have arrived several hours ago. If I can just get outta here… I can come back in the morning… well later in the morning… And you can give me a once over then…” Colton continued to avoid eye contact with Henry as he spoke, fidgeting with his left sleeve.
Since Henry was as far from a sadist as one could be, he felt sympathy towards the stranger, who was clearly uncomfortable. He wanted nothing more himself than to get out of here and get a few hours of additional sleep.
“Sure… But at the very least, let me clean up the cut on your cheek. It could get infected if not looked at.” Henry began wetting a cotton pad and adding a dollop of soap while offering his reluctant patient an understanding smile. As he leaned towards Colton to inspect the cut, he caught a faint smell of sage, sweat and something else which he couldn’t quite identify. For a brief impulsive moment, Henry felt like leaning in and smelling the soft skin just where Colton’s jaw met his neck. A slight stubble covered Colton’s chin and Henry couldn’t help wondering how it would feel against his own skin. Would it be scratchy or soft? Would it cover his own skin in a pinkish rash? Would the stubble lead down towards a broad chest covered in soft chestnut brown hair? How would it smell?
As Colton stirred briefly in the chair, Henry regretfully came back to the present moment and began to carefully clean up the cut. It wasn’t deep and it didn’t need stitches. He gently placed a butterfly patch over the wound and cleared his throat.
“There you go. Keep the patch on for the rest of the day and then clean it again tonight,” he instructed Colton, pressing the bottle of antibacterial soap into his large hand.
“Thanks. What do I owe you, doc?” Colton said as he stood and reached for his wallet drawing Henry’s attention towards his slim waist and firm ass confined by the well-worn jeans.
“Oh, it’s fine,” Henry replied. “It was nothing really,” he continued even though he couldn’t help thinking that this brief encounter with Colton was definitely not nothing. He wasn’t yet sure what it was, but it was something alright. He followed Colton out of the consultation room, his gaze immediately returning to the firm ass of the older guy. Jesus, he had to get some sleep. He was losing his grip on reality and if he wasn’t careful, he’d end up climbing the stranger like a tree in the middle of the waiting room.
“Can I give you a ride somewhere or is the rental car still in one piece?” Henry offered.
“Thanks, but it wasn’t damaged too badly. I can make it to my uncle’s place just fine.” Glancing towards the SUV, Colton buried his hands in his pockets.
Henry felt himself smiling at Colton, trying to keep the conversation going for a little while longer, hesitant to let the other man go, even though Henry was feeling the lack of proper sleep in his bones by now. He followed Colton outside, turned off the lights in the reception and locked the door behind him. Then he turned around, breathing in deeply.
“So, Hank’s nephew, huh?” He looked at Colton as he stepped into the still dark main street.
“Yeah, I mean, I haven’t seen him in a while… Sort of lost contact many years ago…”
“How old were you when you left town?”
“Eighteen,” Colton replied offering no additional details.
“So straight off to the Army then…? And in all this time you’ve never been back home?”
“Nope, just didn’t work out that way, I guess. Being overseas for the most part…” Colton trailed off.
“Oh yeah, where were you deployed? Or is that confidential information and you’ll have to kill me if you tell me?” Henry couldn’t help teasing. He registered a faint almost nonexistent twitch at the left side of Colton’s mouth but couldn’t tell if it was a repressed smile or caused by annoyance. Probably the latter judging from the look in Colton’s dark eyes.
“Afghanistan. Kabul for the most part,” the answer came out forced and Henry sensed that this wasn’t Colton’s preferred topic of conversation. In fact, conversation of any kind didn’t appear to be Colton’s favorite activity.
“Well, it’s nice of you to come back to give Hank a hand, I mean if that’s the plan… He hasn’t been quite the same since Eugene died three years ago, you know.”
“Eugene?” Colton looked up from the car.
“Yes, his partner.”
“Oh right, I didn’t know he had a business partner. I always just thought that he ran it by himself after my father left the shop.” Trailing his right index finger along the bend on the bumper, a look of what seemed like regret flashed across Colton’s face briefly. Then it was gone again, his dark eyes leaving no further indication of what he was thinking.
“He did run it by himself. I mean, he does. Eugene was never much into cars,” Henry replied.
“Oh, then why…?” Colton’s facial expression seemed to change and then darken slightly as it seemed to dawn on him what Henry meant.
“I’m sorry,” Henry said. “I thought you knew that Hank is gay. I just assumed since everyone in town always knew about him and Eugene. It wasn’t a secret or anything. It was just Hank and Eugene.” Colton shook his head in disbelief as if the idea of a gay uncle had trouble settling in his mind. Then after a brief pause, he looked up at Henry.
