Was this something Tommy did regularly?
The thought surprised him with how quickly jealousy followed.
Not possessive, he had no claim to anything, just a strange tightness in his chest at the idea of Tommy belonging to a world Chase hadn’t known existed.
And Logan.
Chase exhaled slowly.
Logan hadn’t looked angry. Hadn’t looked territorial or dismissive. Just… steady. Protective without being aggressive.
That mattered more than Chase wanted to admit.
It had been his first time walking into something like that , first time even considering it , and the last thing he wanted was for Logan to think he’d crossed a line.
He hadn’t even stayed.
Hadn’t finished.
The realization hit him again, sudden and physical.
He laughed quietly under his breath.
“Yeah,” he muttered to the empty car. “That’s gonna be a problem.”
Energy buzzed under his skin, nowhere to go now that adrenaline had nowhere to land.
He started the engine, shaking his head.
Cold shower.
Maybe two.
And the gym.
Thank god his gym was open twenty-four hours.
He pulled out of the garage, city lights sliding across the windshield as Tommy’s surprised expression replayed in his mind, wide-eyed, breathless, unmistakably real.
Chase tightened his grip on the wheel.
He told himself it was just coincidence.
Just one strange night.
He wasn’t sure he wanted it to be.
Chase merged onto the empty road, the city thinning around him as late-night traffic faded into scattered headlights and long stretches of quiet asphalt.
He drove without music.
Needed the silence.
Streetlights flickered across the windshield in steady intervals, each one pulling another memory loose whether he wanted it or not.
Tommy at thirteen, barefoot in someone’s backyard, refusing to play whatever organized game their parents had planned.
Tommy laughing when adults got too serious.
