This felt different. He felt….
“What the fuck!”
The blurted exclamation from the bedroom punctured Flynn’s mood. He could feel it sink down into his gut, almost hear his dad’s “told ya” in his ear, as the water circled the drain between his feet. It had been nice, Flynn supposed, while it lasted. He turned the water off, grabbed a towel, and went back into the bedroom.
Nate waved Teddy’s creased check at him. Ah, that. Flynn grimaced. He should have known Teddy would manage to screw this up for him.
“I didn’t go,” Flynn said. He wiped the towel over his head and hung it around his shoulder. “I’m not taking his money.”
“Are you mad?” Nate asked. “Did you misread the zeros?”
Flynn started to laugh. He had to sit down on the bed, and laughed until his stomach hurt. Once he could stop he sprawled backward into the sheets. It pretty much undid the bath, but he didn’t mind the smell of sex and Nate and sweat that surrounded him.
“I figured you’d be mad I even thought about taking money to leave.”
Nate snorted. “It’s a lot of money,” he said. The bed shifted under Flynn. Without looking up he could tell that Nate had sat down on the bed. “Did you turn this down for me? Because I don’t know if I’m worth it.”
He was. Flynn grinned at the thought, at how sure he was of it, but kept it to himself. That would just freak Nate out, and it wasn’t the only reason he’d driven back off the ferry. He reached out and found Nate’s arm, his skin warm against Flynn’s wet fingers.
“C’mere.” Nate resisted for a second and then crawled over to lie next to Flynn. The usual charm was gone from his face and he looked worried. “Do you remember my dad?”
Nate wrinkled his nose. “I don’t—”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“What did you think of him?”
“He was an adult. I didn’t….” Nate trailed off and shrugged.
“Yeah, well, he was a miserable bastard,” Flynn said. Guilt pinched. It was a familiar jab, in an old sore spot. He took a deep breath. “Dad wasn’t a bad man. He made sure I had clothes, food, a roof over my head. He never beat me.”
Nate rested his chin on Flynn’s shoulder. “Did he know?” Flynn couldn’t help the sudden tension that went through him. Nate must have felt it too, because he smoothed a hand over Flynn’s chest. “Max told me. Today. I didn’t know before.”
“Dad did. I think sometimes he almost forgot.” He paused for a second as he remembered his dad nodding approval of a haircut and the patience he’d shown when he taught Flynn how to fix his first engine. It had never lasted long, though. “Then he’d look at something he bought with Teddy’s hush money and he had to remember. The money’s tempting, but I’m not going to live like that.”
Nate tugged at his chest hair. “So even if I’d not come to find you, you’d have stayed?”
“I’d have come to find you,” Flynn said. He wove his fingers through Nate’s and admitted, “Might not have hung around if you weren’t interested. I’d still have wiped my ass on Teddy’s check, though.”
Nate laughed, and then winced. “You might want to rethink that,” he said as he turned his face into Flynn’s neck. His breath felt cold against Flynn’s wet skin. “Between us and all the screwups last week, I might not have a job next week.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Flynn said. He stared up into the peak of the sloped roof. “Teddy isn’t going to take his problems with me out on you.”
“I hope not,” Nate said.
He seemed to think it was a prediction, not a promise.
YOU COULDsee the lighthouse from Teddy’s office. Flynn stood in front of the window with his arms crossed and watched clouds scud across the stark blue sky. He heard the door open behind him but didn’t bother to look around.
“Mr. Delaney.”
“I’ve got a name.”
“I know.”
Flynn turned away from the window. He got out of the way as Teddy walked around the desk and lowered himself carefully into the large, well-padded office chair. In an office that was all shelves of hardbacked books and big, dark pieces of furniture that glowed with wax polish, the space-age looking chair was out of place. Flynn supposed it was easier on old bones.
