19
Ryan wasn’t sure how long he’d been staring at his bank balance, but it felt like an eon had passed and blood was still rushing in his ears.
The email Melissa had sent through to say that he should expect to see the final settlement amount hit his account today hadn’t seemed real until he’d switched over to check, half-expecting not to see any change.
He wasfree. Finally, after all the arguing, all the bullshit. He could move on with his life now.
Part of him had expected this moment to be different. Bigger. More important.
Mostly, he was relieved.
But not in any hurry to move on, like he thought he would be. There was no urge to look for an apartment right away. No drive to move on as quickly as possible.
This place had started to feel comfortable. It wasn't quitehomeyet, but neither was anywhere else.
A knock on the door startled Ryan out of his thoughts.
“You have to come right now,” Oscar said through it. He sounded more excited than upset, so Ryan figured it wasn't anything bad.
He got up and opened the door, feeling a little weird about the fact that Oscar had botheredknocking. They were closer than that, weren't they?
“What’s up?” he asked a grinning Oscar, taking in the smear of mud on his nose.
“The miracle of life. Come on.” Oscar grabbed Ryan’s hand and tugged him down the hall and toward the back door.
“If you’re gonna ask me to catch a baby or something, I’m not making any promises that I won’t pass out.”
“This is a no-participation event,” Oscar promised, dragging Ryan across the yard to shed behind the house where they kept the reptiles.
“Is Buttercup in her enclosure?” Ryan asked warily, not particularly wanting to run into a free-roaming Burmese python right now.
“Quit worrying,” Oscar said, squeezing Ryan’s hand. “Nothing bad’s gonna happen.”
“You say that now, but…” Ryan trailed off as they both rounded the corner, staring at the unexpected presence by what Finn had told him was the incubator.
Freddie waved at him, smiling brightly. Unlike Ryan, who tried to avoid the reptile area at more or less all costs, Freddie looked perfectly comfortable in here.
“Oh,” Ryan said, taking a moment to recover from the surprise. “You’re… here.”
“Try not to soundtooexcited,” Freddie teased, beaming over at the two of them.
Summoning the willpower to smile back didn't come easy, but Ryan managed it. It wasn't as though Freddie had given him areasonnot to like him. He’d been outright charming the whole time.
Ryan justdidn't like him.
Probably because Freddie was everything he wasn't. Classically handsome, adventurous, smart, rich, and actually experienced with other men.
And then there was Ryan, who was awkwardly tall and a huge coward. He’d only learned how to suck dick this week, and he definitely wasn’t about to be a PhD candidate. Also, he was broke.
Well, less so right now, but compared to a family like the Kowalskis, most people were broke.
“Just surprised, sorry,” Ryan smiled wryly, hoping Freddie would buy that. The last thing he needed was to piss off a potentially huge donor because he was feeling a little insecure.
“Freddie plans on volunteering with us for a while,” Oscar said, squeezing Ryan’s hand meaningfully. “I was just showing him around when we noticed the… well, see for yourself.” He nodded to the incubator, nudging Ryan to approach it.
There were alligator eggs in there, he remembered, rescued after their mom was killed by a poacher.
A faint crunch sounded as he moved to peer inside, the tip of a tiny alligator snout sticking out of one of the shells. Another one was already halfway out, but not moving.
