A grin breaks across my face before I can stop it. “Yes, sir,” I breathe, already shoving my shorts and boxers down my hips in a rush.
Chapter Twelve
Slade
Three Months Later
The late-August sun is dipping low, painting the garage in long, golden light as I wipe my hands on a rag for what feels like the hundredth time today. The shop smells of fresh polish, leather conditioner, and that unmistakable new-car scent we somehow managed to bring back to a fifty-year-old Mercedes. Todd and Larry are standing on either side of me, arms crossed, both of them wearing the same stupid, proud grin I can feel stretching across my own face.
The owner pulls up in his truck a few minutes after five. Mr. Harlan is in his early sixties, silver-haired, with the kind of quiet, weathered face that says he’s spent a lifetime working with his hands. He climbs out slowly; eyes already locked on the car under the lights in the centre of the bay. For a long moment he doesn’t speak, he just stares.
The Benz gleams like it rolled off the factory floor yesterday. Deep midnight blue paint, flawless and deep enough to get lost in. Chrome bright and mirror-shiny. The new old-stock seats we hunted down look vibrant and plush. The steering wheel we scored sits straight andtrue. We even managed to source period-correct wing mirrors that match the rest of the trim. And the engine purrs like a contented cat when I turn the key for him.
Mr. Harlan walks around the car twice without saying a word, running a shaky hand along the hood, over the roof, and down the trunk. When he finally stops in front of us his eyes are wet.
“Boys…” His voice cracks. “I never thought I’d see her like this again. My dad would’ve lost his damn mind.”
He shakes each of our hands, hard and grateful, then pulls out his checkbook with fingers that tremble a little. We already settled on the final number weeks ago but watching him write it out still feels good. He tears the check free and hands it to me.
“You three did something special here,” he says, voice thick. “Thank you. Really.”
We help him get her loaded onto his trailer, careful as hell, and then he’s gone… waving out the window as he pulls away, the Benz shining behind him like a piece of his childhood brought back to life.
The garage falls quiet once the truck disappears down the road. Todd lets out a long whistle and Larry claps me on the back hard enough to make me stumble.
“Damn fine way to end the day,” Larry says.
I’m about to agree when the side door swings open and Larry’s wife, Maria, steps in wearing a big smile and carrying a foil-covered tray that smells suspiciously like her famous lemon bars.
“I figured you boys would be celebrating tonight,” she says, eyes sparkling as she sets the tray down on the workbench. “So I brought reinforcements.”
Larry lights up like a kid on Christmas. Todd’s already reaching for the foil.
I lean back against the tool chest, arms crossed, letting the satisfaction of a job well done settle deep in my chest. It’s been a long few months, but damn if it wasn’t worth every single hour.
…
Maria’s lemon bars are still warm on the workbench, and Todd’s already on his second one, laughing at something Larry just said. The garage lights buzz overhead, and for a minute everything feels easy.
Then Larry slides his arm around Maria’s waist, casual as breathing, and pulls her into his side. She tilts her head up and gives him one of those quick, gentle kisses… the kind that says, “I’m proud of you,” and “I love you,” all at once. Larry smiles against her mouth, thumb brushing her hip, and she laughs softly into the kiss before pulling back.
My chest tightens so fast it actually aches. I can’t do that with Andrew… not here, not anywhere people know us. To Todd and Larry, Andrew is still the boy I took in when his mother left. They see him as my son, even if he never was by blood. If I reached for his hand in the supermarket, if I leaned into him at the movies, if I kissed him the way Larry just kissed Maria, the rumours would tear us both apart in a single afternoon.
I want it. God, I want it so badly it makes my jaw clench. I want to be able to pull Andrew against me and kiss the top of his head without thinking twice. Simple things everyone else gets without even noticing. But for us they’re impossible. Every time we’re out in public, I feel the weight of it… the careful distance I have to keep, the way I stop myself from touching him the way I want to. It hurts more than I ever expected it would.
I don’t want to be here anymore. I force a smile that feels paper-thin and push off the tool chest. “You know what, I think I’m gonna head out. Long week. You two enjoy the rest of those lemon bars before Todd inhales them all.”
Larry chuckles and gives me a mock salute. Maria waves, still tucked happily under her husband’s arm. “Drive safe, Slade.”
“Will do,” I reply, keeping my voice light and easy like nothing’s wrong.
I climb into my truck, start the engine, and pull out of the lot with a final wave. The second the garage disappears in the rear-view mirror the smile drops off my face. The road home stretches out dark and quiet, and my mind won’t stop turning.
I seriously start thinking about moving. There’s a decent-sized town on the other side of the college. No one there knows us. No one would look twice if I held Andrew’s hand in public or kissed him in a coffee shop. It would be closer for him, easier for classes and friends and everything that comes with college life. The only realdownside is the longer commute for me to the garage every day. Thirty, maybe forty minutes each way. I could handle it. I’ve driven farther for less important things.
I drum my fingers on the steering wheel, the idea settling heavier the longer I think about it. I might bring it up with Andrew, see what he thinks. If he wants that kind of freedom too… if he wants us to be able to justbewithout constantly looking over our shoulders.
I turn onto our street, the house lights warm and familiar in the distance, and feel something tight in my chest loosen just a little at the thought of walking through the door and finally wrapping myself around him the way I’ve wanted to all day.
