“Bastards.”
“Yeah. Yasmin said it was all weird stuff. Like, not just smashing windows or spray painting.”
Charlie said, “Do they have an idea who it is? High school kids?”
“I guess maybe? The sheriff didn’t say.”
“You met the sheriff?” Nick’s tone sharpened.
“Yeah. They, um.” It wasn’t as if Nick wouldn’t find out. The insurance guy still hadn’t come by, and the tractor was stuck in the fence, waiting. “They did a bit of damage here the other night.”
“What? When? You didn’t tell me.”
“No one was hurt, and you couldn’t exactly get here any quicker.”
Nick’s huff of breath suggested he wasn’t happy with that explanation. “I’m surprised Luger didn’t take a chunk out of them.”
“He was in the house with me. Yasmin doesn’t trust him running loose unless one of us is watching him.” He tried to joke. “She said better a broken fence than Luger eating a sheep.”
“I suppose.”
Charlie said, “What’s the sheriff like? Was he interested in you?”
“She. Sharp. But once she heard I was a friend of Doc’s, she backed off.”
Nick shook his head. “I don’t like it, but I guess if it’s been all around the county for weeks, it’s nothing to do with us.”
“Can’t be. Right?” Brian had told himself that a dozen times.
“Right.” Nick pulled up in front of the house. “So. Here we are.”
They got out, and Luger romped up the steps ahead of them. Lori opened the door with a smile.
“Hi, Charlie.” Her voice cooled. “Hey, Nok Nick.”
“Hey, Lor,” Nick said. “You’re looking well stuffed. When do you pop?”
Brian kicked the back of Nick’s sneaker. “Doc said the baby’s due January fourth. I told you that.”
“Oh, yeah. Man, another three weeks of that has to suck, right, Lori?”
She folded her arms high above her swollen belly. “Zander says I’m doing great.”
Charlie moved between them. “That’s good. I hope we can get you moved before the baby comes.”
She uncrossed her arms. “Hell, yeah. Me too. Come on in. Yasmin’s been cooking half the day.”
They climbed the porch steps and went inside, where the scents of roasting and baking and simmering filled the air. Charlie took an appreciative sniff. “Wow, Lori, you’re sure you want to move out?”
“Positive.” Her voice suddenly warmed as Yasmin came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron. “It’s been great, don’t get me wrong, and Yasmin’s amazing. But I want to be settled in with the kid, somewhere that’s more ours.” She smiled shyly up at Charlie. “It’s so cool, you being willing to share a place with me.”
“He’d do a whole lot to help out a little baby,” Nick said.
Yasmin asked, “You boys gonna introduce me to your friend?”
“Yes, of course.” Brian put a hand on Charlie’s arm. “Yasmin, this is Charlie Connors, who’s Nick’s best friend. He’s a good guy. Charlie, this is Doc’s mom. Zander’s. Ms. Wydell. She’s really cool. I mean, she’s a great mom. And farmer.” He suddenly wondered if this was the first time he’d introduced people to each other. Might be. It was one of those things adults with friends did. He mentally ticked off another milestone in his adult-stuff list, even if it’d come out a bit scrambled.
Yasmin shook hands with Charlie and they said hello. Yasmin added, “My son’ll be home from his clinic in ten minutes, so we’ll eat in about twenty. Y’all want to sit down for a bit and relax? Maybe have some lemonade or coffee or sweet tea?”
Nick and Charlie turned down drinks, joking about being afloat in coffee from the long drive. As they moved into the living room, Brian lingered in the doorway. He watched Lori lower herself carefully into the bigger armchair, while Nick and Charlie dropped to opposite ends of the long couch with identical sighs of appreciation. Yasmin sat in the armchair across from Nick.
It wasn’t the first time he’d seen Nick in this room, but the last time had felt like a mirage that couldn’t be counted on. This time, Brian’s old life and his new life were settled on opposite sides of the coffee table, talking about apartment hunting tomorrow. It was cool, and great, and still a bit unreal. A tiny corner of him ached knowing that Damon wouldn’t walk in that door alongside Doc, to make the picture complete. But as he made his way to the shorter couch and sat on the end where his feet could tap Nick’s outstretched sneakers, the fizzy warmth inside him was just about perfect.
****
Nick shut the motel room door, careful not to catch Luger’s tail in it, and flipped the night lock. “I still think he could’ve stayed in your room on the farm,” he muttered, as the dog moved to sniff under the king-sized bed. He was joking. Mostly.
“I didn’t want him to fuss and keep Yasmin awake.” Brian sat on the edge of the bed and kicked off his sneakers. He looked up, expression anxious. “Are you mad?”
“No.” Nick deliberately made his voice lower and sexier. “Not a bit. Let him watch. Did I ever tell you I have an exhibitionist streak?”
Brian laughed, his forehead smoothing out. “You do not. You used to make him go out in the hall at home. He can lie down in the bathroom for a while.”
“After I use it. I need a quick shower.” He felt grungy from the long drive, beyond the acceptable level of male sweat and well into personal funk territory. Besides, he wanted to prepare a bit. “Out in ten.”
Brian stuck a leg out to bar his way as he passed. “Pay toll.”
Nick bent to kiss him, and Brian reached up to cup his head. A brief touch of lips wasn’t enough. Nick slid his hand behind Brian’s neck and kissed him harder, deeper, inhaling his gasps and taste and the way he opened his mouth for whatever Nick wanted, taking it in like a starving man. I’m pretty starving myself. He found himself on his knees beside the bed, pushing against Brian’s thighs as they tried to eat each other alive.
Nick only pulled back when breathing got critical. Brian looked flustered, bright-eyed with shiny, parted lips. The brown hair was still weird, but it made his pale skin and eyes more striking. And fuck, that mouth— Nick ran his thumb over Brian’s damp chin. “Hold that thought.” It was hard to get up, turn away, and go into the bathroom, but he’d been planning this reunion for two weeks, and it wasn’t going to happen in a scramble on ugly indoor-outdoor carpeting.
The shower had a decent flow, the water was wonderfully hot, and the soap didn’t smell too perfumey. He scrubbed and cleaned himself, inside and out, fast but thoroughly. He was half-hard from that kiss, and each touch of his own hands zapped a jolt of expectation through him. He decided not to shave, dried off with a thin motel towel, rubbed his hair roughly with another, and dropped them on the floor. Close enough. No clothing required.
In the main room, Brian had turned off the big light and pulled the bedcovers down. He perched on the edge in almost the same spot, but he’d stripped to shorts and a white T-shirt. Sitting there a little hunched, his hands clasped in his lap, he was so perfectly, innocently, awkwardly sexy that Nick found it tough to breathe.