“No!”Ben said.“I fully intend to care for Charlie in his own right, for his own benefit, to the best of my abilities.
Ms.Rodriguez jotted down a few more notes.“Now, I can’t help but notice you moved to the area very recently, and a number of fields relating to your employment are left blank.What are your career plans?”
Phil shifted on the couch.Ms.Rodriguez asked an excellent question he needed the answer to as well.
“I, uh…” Ben swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing.At the corner of his throat, right where it met the neckline of his shirt, Phil spotted a shadow.The last remnant of the hickey Phil had sucked into his skin.“Well, I’ve been applying for jobs.I have a few interviews lined up.”
What kind of jobs?Phil wanted to ask.Not coaching, presumably, if nothing on his résumé had actually happened.But he did currently coach the Sea Lions.Why hadn’t he mentioned his job to CPS?Did he not intend to stay with them?When Ben went looking for a place for Charlie and him, did he mean in another city or another state?Was he planning on leaving?
“And how exactly does Mr.Easton fit into this?”
Phil wanted to know that too.
“You’re living here, and Charlie seems to have made himself quite at home,” she continued.“But I don’t see any proof of address or a rental contract in the forms you submitted.Are you and Mr.Easton together?Or is this a temporary situation?”
“Uh…” Ben began and then didn’t continue.
There was a clear wrong answer, and it was the truth.Ben had never intended his stay at Phil’s to be more than temporary, much as he’d never expected his nephew to be living with him.Apparently, he didn’t even want the government to know about his job, not even to protect Charlie.
By rights, Phil ought to let him get caught in his own web of half-truths and distraction techniques.He’d had ample opportunity to tell Phil the truth and chosen not to.It would serve him right if CPS turned down his application.
But it wouldn’t serve Charlie right.
Ben rubbed at his forehead.The motion caused his shirt collar to loosen a little, revealing more of the mark Phil had left on his neck.
Phil reached out and took his free hand.
“Wh—” Ben started.
“It’s okay, baby,” Phil said.
Ben shot him a panicked look, but Phil just patted his hand.He might not know anything about Ben’s real identity or his true purpose with Phil’s team and in Phil’s life, but he definitely knew how to schmooze.
Phil turned his most charming smile on Ms.Rodriguez.“It’s my fault.I don’t know if you follow hockey, but I’m in the NHL.”
She frowned.“Rings a bell.”
“Well, it’s a living.”He gestured around the house in fake modesty.“But there aren’t any gay players.At least, not openly.I didn’t want that kind of media attention, especially with Charlie moving in as well.”
The frown lines on her forehead cleared slightly but not fully.“So Charlie will have to keep quiet about where he’s living and who he’s living with?”
Ben inhaled sharply.He tugged on Phil’s hand, clearly about to pull away and torpedo his and Charlie’s chance at happiness.
“I’m retiring at the end of the season.It would only be a few more months.Then no one will care what I do.”
Ben’s fingers clenched tightly around his.“Phil…”
Phil put on his best media smile.“You know my knee won’t hold up for much more hockey.Playoffs this year, and then I’m out.”He hadn’t known the words were true before he said them, but as they fell from his lips, a wave of relief so great it made him dizzy washed through him.
Oh shit.
He hadn’t known how much the thought of his contract negotiations weighed on him until he decided he wasn’t going to have any.
Thank God, he’d already made an appointment with the sports therapist.This conversation alone provided ample ground to cover.
“Still.”Ms.Rodriguez frowned down at her clipboard.“You were in the Midwest last year, Mr.Sinclair.”
Sinclair?For a moment, Phil thought she had the wrong paperwork.Maybe that explained all the things she’d said about his job history.
