What?
“Please go help him.”
Sam took me by the arm and led me to a set of chairs. He gently pushed me to sit and told me to stay there before he jogged over to Andrew. I sat still and watched people hurrying in and out of Andrew’s bay, and then I remembered that I needed to call work and move my SUV. I stepped outside and dialed work. I paced by my SUV as I explained my absence and the morning. When I got off the phone, I looked up and saw James walking toward me.
“How is he? Is everything okay? How is Andrew?” I asked. James kept walking toward me and wrapped his arm across my back and around my shoulders.
“Sam’s with him and already has some pain medicine moving through Andrew’s system. How are you?” James asked as he rubbed his hand across my upper back.
“I’m okay. The front seat of his car is all fucked up. There was a lot of blood on it. He’s going to need a new car,” I rambled quickly.
James let go of me and asked for my key fob.
“I need to move that,” I said and started to go over to it.
“I’ll move it,” James insisted. I put the fob in his hand and waited for him to park the SUV. “You’ve had quite the day already,” he said as he approached me after he parked.
“Yeah.”
“It’s a long way to Riverside while worrying about someone.”
“Yeah. Two hours down and back. I was worried, and I hate that fucking bitch.”
“I know. Did you contact work?”
“Yes. I explained what happened, and they told me to take the day off.”
“Good. I was going to suggest that too. Come on inside and you can wait in my office for a bit. They were going to take Andrew for a CT scan, so it’ll be a while.” I nodded and walked inside with him.
I sat down in James’ office across from his desk and reached for a picture frame that had James with his arm around Brandon’s shoulders. They were both leaning on the railing of the deck at James’ house, and the ocean was in the background. They were a great couple. I stared at it for a moment and wondered if I was on the verge of having something like what he had with Brandon with Sam and Ali.
“That’s a great picture of the two of you,” I said as I set the frame down gently.
“Thank you. Brandon loves to take pictures of us. He has an abundance of energy for taking several pictures of us with his phone before we even sit down for breakfast and coffee.”
“Do you think Andrew will leave her for good this time? Because she stabbed—”
“He better, Josh,” James interrupted me. He was mad as hell.
I stayed in James’ office for most of the morning. We talked some about Sam in between James leaving to go get updates on Andrew. Being alone with James reminded me just how calming he really was. Subconsciously, I always knew that and had loved the time he'd spent with me, but Brandon was his now.Duh. He collared the kid.Brandon was healing, and I could see his progress almost each week that I saw him.
“I told Sam about Jolie and Dad,” I volunteered as I sat there.
“Good, Joshua. Sam is sharp, and I expected that he would begin to dig with you,” James admitted. “Sam cares a lot about you.”
I smiled and nodded as I thought back to all the times that I’d felt that with him. I decided to try to be serious with James and drop the guarded but passive front. There was no point to it with James. He was always able to see through it.
“I’m glad to hear you say that because Sam has me feeling a bit vulnerable to him. I worry that sometimes I’m seeing something that might not be there.”
James tilted his head to the side, prompting me to elaborate.
“When I’m alone with him, I feel very…” I paused so I could find the right word. “I feel very free to be me. I don’t have to wear the smile all the time or crack the joke.”
“Sam is easy to be around. He sees a lot before you’re even aware that he’s been watching.”
I nodded and then slipped back to the jokester.
“He can sometimes get all sadist-y, like you.” I smiled when James tipped his head back and laughed.
