“Excellent,” Rory agreed, then slid down in the tub a little more. His knees bent as his thighs rode up against me, and water splashed against his beard. “Let’s see what trouble he gets us into this time.”
ASHER
Okay, maybe Lilith’s take on the whole daddies situation was more accurate than I was willing to admit. Because when I looked at Franklin, I felt all dopey and shit, like my stomach was going to turn somersaults.
Just keep it cool, I told myself.You’re a guest star at best, and don’t forget it.
I was in the garage behind the shop. Franklin and Clark were sorting through comics while I installed a new fan in the window. I tightened the last screw, then hopped off the ladder while Clark held a stack of comics in the air.
“All late ‘80s,” he said. “With the others?”
“The costumes are so amazing in that era,” Franklin muttered to himself, tapping his fingers against his lips. “No bother. Yes! With the others is fine.”
My chest swelled with pride as I looked on the garage. Like the shed, I’d managed to get it all nicely organized and packed away. Some tables and repurposed shelving held Franklin’s backstock in a way that was accessible, and fans and proper ventilation meant the comics weren’t getting damp and moldy over the Seattle seasons.
Mostly, though, I just felt proud looking at Franklin. His employees loved him. They laughed at all his dorky jokes and seemed to genuinely look up to him. Franklin and Clark were holding a long conversation about different alien worlds while they worked, all from movies and comic books that I had never heard of. You’d think it would have been boring, but when Franklin jumped around and got all excited, I felt like I had won the fucking lottery.
How’d a couple of good men like Franklin and Rory get mixed up with someone like me?
I’d almost forgotten people could be nice. Daryl was about as bad an influence as there could be, and the people he surrounded us with in Los Angeles were mean as shit. They might kick you in the balls for a laugh, but they’d never shoot the shit about something like an alien planet.
Franklin, though, he couldn’t hurt another person if he tried.
Not even with those big hands…
“What about you?” Clark asked, pulling me from the fantasy before it could even get started.
I pushed my hand through my hair, then hopped off the ladder. “What about me?”
“Have you been to a con before?” Clark asked. “Or will next weekend be your first?”
I shook my head. “Haven’t been.”
Franklin stepped forward, stroking his beard. “This isn’t actually a con, not in the proper sense. It’s more like a regional industry showcase. We’ll be setting up the booth for a distributer who specializes in tabletop games.”
I cracked my knuckles, then glanced to Clark. “Like he said.”
Franklin chuckled. “There is a promise of more work, though, and plenty of cons around the region.”
“You know,” I said, glancing around the garage. “If we moved a few of the things from your shed out here, we could use the shed as a proper workspace. There’s enough room in the garage now…”
“The rest of your hoard!” Clark said, animated by the idea. “I want to see it.”
Franklin looked a little bashful as he waved his hand in the air. “It’s nothing, nothing at all.”
I scoffed. “I don’t understand half the shit Franklin is keeping around, but I know it’s pretty damn cool.”
“Maybe,” Franklin said with a quick nod. “It would be nice to have a workspace where you could spread stuff out, cut the wood for the booth and all that.” He fluttered his hand over his mouth, then nodded again. “And Rory will be pleased if his tools get some use.”
I caught the way Clark was looking at Franklin again, with both respect and joy in his gazes. I felt another surge of pride. Sure, Clark probably had no idea anything was going on with us in the bedroom. But even being associated with Franklin as a worker felt good to me.
We had plans together. Work to do. I’d been to the house Rory and Franklin shared, even met their kid…
“And what are you grinning about?” Franklin asked, tilting his head to the side as he smiled back at me. “Or has the geek talk just gotten to be too much for you?”
“Not at all,” I said, licking my tongue across my top row of teeth and trying my best not to flirt in front of Clark. “I could listen to you two go on all day.”
Clark and Franklin both laughed, then turned back to the comics they were sorting. I went back to the last few tasks on my list, although a part of me was reluctant to finish.
I might not have known the first thing about superheroes and conventions, but I knew what felt good.
And this world? Where Franklin and Rory lived?
This world felt pretty damn sweet.
