Niko’s hesitance turned into a grin, then he looked at Derek like he suddenly remembered who he was with and why. His cheeks flushed. “Can I grab you something?”
Derek smiled softly. “I’m good for now. Go eat, though. I did promise you food.”
Niko looked unsure, but after a beat, he turned and headed off toward the kitchen. The second he was out of earshot, Sam leaned over toward Derek and socked him in the thigh. “What the fuck you doing bringing your date around here before you two are solid? I know you didn’t miss that.”
Derek bit his bottom lip to hide his grin as he shook his head. “Trust me, it’s cool. We didn’t get off on the right foot, and I was thinking there might be something there, but he didn’t look at me the way he looked at you even before the date went bad.”
Sam let out a tiny sigh. “Man, I really don’t have time for that right now. Everything’s in the shitter with this custody thing. They want to find her dad’s family and offer them a chance to petition for custody now.”
Derek felt like icy water had been thrown over his head. “What the hell? When did you find that out?”
“Got the call last night,” Sam said from behind a sigh. “These fucks aren’t going to rest til they drag her out of my arms. I don’t…” He rubbed a hand down his face. “I can’t lose her. I’ve had her since she was nine months old, man. That girl is mine.”
“I know she is,” Derek said fiercely. “Have you lawyered up? Likeproperly?”
“I have some legal aid help, but shit, I don’t have the cash,” Sam admitted in a quiet voice. “These classes, these trips, all this paperwork—it’s been slowly draining what savings I had.”
“Maybe I can help,” Derek said.
Sam gave him a flat look. “I know you don’t have that kind of cash.”
“Maybe not, but if we pool our resources,” Derek said, then gave Sam a hard look when his mouth dropped open to argue. “Don’t be a shit about this, man. She’s our girl too. Tony would cut his arm off rather than see you lose her, and I…” He licked his lips and felt his stomach twist with the offer he was about to make, only because he would only make it for one of his family. “I got connections through my dad. I just have to ask him.”
Sam paled. “Dude. No. Fuck that. Fuck that so much. You’re not asking that sadistic freak for anything. Do you understand me? Do you know what he’ll want from you?”
“Yes,” Derek said, because he did. His dad would want to drain him of everything he had left, emotionally, physically, mentally. But he’d do it. The sacrifice would be more than worth it for Sam and May. “I know exactly what he’d want, and I don’t fucking care. You’re not losing that girl.”
Sam looked like he might be sick, but he didn’t get a chance to answer when the other guys came back into the room. Niko was subdued as he handed his plate off to Sam, and when he sat, it was a little closer to Derek. There was an obvious tension in the room, but it was clear Mat and James didn’t want to bring it up with a stranger there.
The topic turned to other things—Derek couldn’t bring himself to pay attention, his mind on calling his father and how, exactly, he’d manage to get the favor. But he’d do it. He didn’t care what he had to promise the old man.
The tension died down a little, and Sam began to joke with Niko a little, and in spite of his protests, Derek could sense the spark between them. It would be a good match, he thought. When Sammoved to his chair to go outside for a little bit of air, Niko offered to go with, and Sam didn’t turn him down.
The door shut, and both James and Mat rounded on him. “Uh,” James said, giving him a pointed look, “isn’t the gym-rat your date?”
Derek shook his head. “We had a date and I’m not feeling it. But he’s a good guy, and I think those two might actually have something there.”
“Sam’ll never go for it,” Mat said a little mournfully. “I’ve been trying to get that dude laid for months. I basically offered myself as full time, any time, babysitter. Like three am, don’t fucking care if it means he gets his dick wet. But he won’t pull the trigger.”
“He told me about the update,” Derek said quietly.
Both men’s faces immediately went stormy. “Those dudes are asking for straight up wrath brought down on them,” James said darkly. There was a southern-preacher twang in his voice—reminiscent of his past and his father, though Derek didn’t know too much about it. But every now and again, he could hear bits of James’ childhood peek through.
“I’m going to help,” Derek told them. “I might know someone who can represent him, I just need to make a couple calls.”
It was saying something—just how much the other two understood the gravity of what Derek would have to do, but also how important it was for Sam to have this—that they didn’t question him. Saying it aloud would acknowledge what Derek would have to put himself through, and feigned ignorance was always best.
The hard part, really, would be to convince Sage to let him do it. It was a battle he wasn’t sure he’d have the strength for.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
‘You look tired,’ Basil signed slowly as Derek took his seat at their now-customary table. The café was all but empty, apart from the owner—an attractive man who had a ten-year-old girl always hanging around. He was newer in town than Basil was, and from what he knew, kept to himself just as much. ‘You okay?’
Derek nodded, though Basil wasn’t sure he was telling the truth. He knew Derek had ASL every week night, and had clients and art classes and his own private work, but there was something more to his fatigue he wasn’t saying. ‘Long day,’ he finally replied.
He wasn’t looking directly at Basil, so he knocked on the table gently, making Derek’s gaze lift. ‘Tell me,’ he said. ‘Do you want to stop the lesson tonight?’
‘No,’ Derek signed in a hurry, shaking his head along with pinching his fingers. He looked almost desperate, which was startling. Derek was making amazing progress with the language, better than a lot of people Basil had known, but he didn’t think it was a passion for the language, or even for him.
