Charlieshrugged. “He seems like the kind of man who can learn new tricks. If you lovehim, he’s worth teaching.”
“You’rewise beyond your years,” Ash said.
“Ihear that a lot,” Charlie responded, just as a shadow darkened the door. For asplit second, Ash thought it might be Declan, but it turned out to be acustomer.
“Igotta…” Ash nodded to the woman who’d just come in. “Sorry.”
“Noneed to apologize. I’m on my lunch break, anyway, so I need to get back. I’llsee you later, though?”
“Absolutely.”Ash beamed at him, grateful to be sure now that he had a friend.
“Andall your secrets are safe with me,” Charlie said, winking and touching the sideof his nose in the universal gesture for secret-keeping. “Promise.”
Ashwatched Charlie go, feeling as though he could cope with everything that wasgoing on, now. Declan hadn’t changed. He hadn’t changed.
Declanjust needed time and space to figure himself out, and Ash could give him asmuch of that as he wanted.
ChapterNineteen
“Ican’t believe you brought this with you,” Declan said as he took the controllerAsh was offering him. He hadn’t played a video game in years, and he was prettysure he was about to embarrass himself.
“Wemoved to a small town. I wasn’t expecting much in the way of nightlife,” Ashexplained.
Ashwasn’t wrong, exactly. There were a few bars around the place, but he hated togo to a new bar alone, and no one had invited them out yet. Not that he’d beenexpecting them to. The number of friends they’d already made was a lot morethan Declan had been expecting.
Thatwas because of Ash, though. Ash had never had any trouble making friends.
Declanhad never been great at it, and he’d been grateful to have Ash from the momentthey’d bonded over him mumbling a half-unintelligible coffee order at Declan,who’d somehow gotten it right.
Ashhadn’t trusted anyone else to make his coffee until they were out of collegeafter. That might have been part of why Declan had come to care so much aboutcoffee, even if Ash didn’t. He still appreciated it when it was better, andDeclan had wanted it to be better for him.
Hewas starting to realize that his feelings about Ash hadalwaysbeencomplicated.
“Iguess it’s too much to ask you to go easy on me,” Declan said, blowing dust offthe controller. Ash had clearly put it away a while ago.
“Yep,”Ash said, putting the disc in the machine. “You know, Igotthis to playwith you in the first place. I was so disappointed when you quit on me.”
Declan’sheart sank at Ash’s tone. He hadn’t realized he’d hurt him, but it reallysounded like he had. “Oh. Well… I’m here now?”
“Onlybecause you have to be,” Ash responded.
“No,”Declan said softly. “I’m here because I want to be. I like hanging out withyou.”
“Thatwas sweet,” Ash said, grabbing the remote to switch the TV on. “But I’m stillgonna kick your ass.”
Declanchuckled. “I wasn’t expecting any different. Is this gonna give me a tutorial,or…?”
“You’llfigure it out,” Ash said. “I’ve got faith in you.”
Declanwatched Ash go through all the menus to get started, taking a deep breath afterhe picked a car and the level loaded.
Hemight not have been good at this, but Ash wasn’t, either. They’d both beenconstantly driving off cliffs or into the water last time, so at least theywere kind of evenly matched.
Gettinghis car to take off proved more difficult than Declan had anticipated. Hestarted out in reverse and took a few seconds to figure out how to go forward,but a glance at Ash’s screen showed that he’d hit a wall early on and wastrying to navigate around it now.
Declanburst into laughter as he passed him, getting the hang of the steering as herounded the first gentle corner.
Amarker on the screen showed Ash catching up to him, but he was still ahead, andhe planned to stay that way.
