“What was that for?” Drew asked, lying beside me. His shoulder bumped mine.
“I feel alive with you. I love you. I just put my last nightmare to rest, and I only want to belong to you. Not all that shit and garbage.” Drew put his arms around me, and I whispered into the twilight about what happened before I called him. “I might need to watch myself when I’m leaving work.”
“Fuck. Tell me if you see anyone strange hanging out, and I’ll come get you and bring you home. We can call Detective Hanlon.” I shrugged, and he kissed me. We lay there, dicks hanging out, jizz cooling, and not giving a single fuck for anything other than each other. We didn’t move until well after the stars came out. I wished on every shiny diamond in the sky that Drew would keep me forever.
Epilogue
Peter
Laken leaned against my side,and I had no choice but to wrap my arm around the skinny brat. In spite of the fact he seemed to eat every twenty minutes, he was thin as ever. His blue eyes twinkled with amusement.
“Hey, old man,” he teased.
I rolled my eyes. “How are things going at the house?”
“Great!”
“So, you got a better job already?”
He straightened to his full height and I had to look up to meet his gaze. “Yeah, it’s not much, but there was a machine shop hiring. I put in for the job and they took me. They’re going to send me somewhere in Buffalo to train me on a machine they want me to use, and the pay isn’t too bad. While I’m there, I’m going to stop and see Niagara Falls.”
“That’s great,” I said.
He turned and gave me a real hug. “Happy birthday. How old are you?” He was grinning as he stood back.
“Old enough.”
Rowdy stared at Laken, and he had been doing that off and on all evening. Tiki torches burned around the porch—a festive touch for my birthday party Drew swore would keep mosquitoes from eating our guests alive. Most people wandered between the deck and the beach because they weren’t used to having the shoreline within walking distance. I still thought the lake was beautiful, but I’d gotten used to the view. Laken was happy to stay at my side because, deep down, he was a cuddler and he was stuck alone at my old house. In spite of the hour-and-twenty-minute drive, he’d been coming to visit me a couple of times a week ever since he’d managed to get a car.
Drew laughed nearby and bent down to talk to a blonde woman he said worked at Trident Falls. She was in a nice black dress, though, and I still wasn’t sure I believed him. He glanced up and his gaze caught with mine. I waved at him, and he winked and went back to his conversation.
“Happy birthday,” someone called.
My cheeks heated. Some of the firefighters who had worked with Rowdy were here, though why I had no idea, and I didn’t like being the center of attention. I hadn’t had a birthday party since I was a kid. I wasn’t sure why everyone wanted to make a big deal out of it, but when Drew begged me to let him throw the party, there was no way I could have told him no. I wanted him happy, and he’d said a birthday was a good excuse to party. Brandon sat at the table next to a cooler full of beer he’d brought with him. His normally clean-shaven face had a light dusting of stubble that didn’t look half bad. I wanted to ask him what the hell he was doing when he cracked a can of Guinness open, but didn’t.
Laken had somehow gotten caught up talking with Rowdy while I stared at Brandon’s poor choices, and I paused as Rowdy let out a deep sigh. “Yeah, I’m selling my house to pay back some bills from all the time I had off this summer, and my lawyer’s fees. It’s going to be a big pain in the ass. After that I’m going to have to look for another job until a spot opens up again at the fire station. If one opens up,” he grumbled.
Laken patted his arm and said something soft and reassuring, and there was no way to miss how Rowdy leaned into his touch. I wanted to yell at him because Laken wasn’t that old, but then again, who was I to tell anyone else how to live their life?
Drew was still deep in conversation with the blonde lady, Laken seemed ready to scale Rowdy like a chain-link fence with a dog hot on his heels, and Brandon seemed very content to drown in whatever was bothering him because he never glanced away from his beer can. I was working my way up to asking him what the hell was wrong, when someone I hadn’t expected to see climbed the steps onto the deck. My chest felt like it caved in a little over my heart and I rubbed it.
Angel looked good in nice jeans and a sweater that was a tad too heavy for the weather. Uhlig strolled along at his side in a blue suit and took up more than his fair share of the space. Angel scanned around until he noticed me, then lifted his hand in my direction. I nodded back, and he came over. Laken slipped a few steps away, tugged free of me by Rowdy. Uhlig said something to Angel, then went over to the table set up with munchies and grabbed a plate.
“Have you been drinking?” Angel asked, looking around at the few people who had beers. His nose wrinkled and he nervously gripped a wrapped present in his hands.
“No.”
“Pills?” he asked sharply.
“No. I asked not to be put on narcotics after my back surgery. Nothing like that.” I ducked my head and had trouble looking up at him but forced myself to meet his gaze. “It went fine, if you were wondering.”
Angel handed over the present. The jewelry in his lip matched his freshly dyed hair, the pink gem winking in the play of the torchlight. If he’d been my daughter, I would have told him he was pretty, but I’d never fucking known how to relate to him. I took a deep breath.
“You have a tan. It looks good.”
“Casey took me on vacation. It was nice to go.”
“Oh yeah, I bet.” My gut cramped as I forced a smile. I’d never been anywhere, never had the money to take him anywhere. I was glad he’d gone off to have fun, and ashamed I’d never done that for him. Maybe he understood some of what I was feeling because he shuffled in and hugged me. My breath caught. I brought my arm up and wrapped it around him, holding him close. I ignored it when he sniffled, and he was good enough to do the same for me.
