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His fingers slip under my waistband, just barely touching the top of my ass. “How’re the cheeks doing?”
I snort. “You were right. All better.”
“See?” he says. “I bet the lotion helped.”
“I already said you were right. You don’t have to gloat.”
He chuckles, fingers drifting along my skin. “I’m glad you’re back, too.”
My heart beats fast as Teddy’s fingers sift through my hair. As his other hand rests above my ass like a gentle claim. As his heat and spicy warm scent envelops me.
Maybe I do have feelings for my husband.
I just don’t know how to tell him that.
Chapter 19
Teddy
“All right?” I ask Phillip, who’s been staring at the inside of his small kitchen for the better part of two minutes. Scott and I just finished moving him into his new apartment, and although the teen was on board with the switch in location, he seems withdrawn now that we’re finished.
“Um, yeah,” he says, turning around. “I can’t believe you guys did all this.”
“It was the least we could do,” Scott replies.
Phillip shakes his head, looking around the living room now. He had a couple pieces of cheap art we hung on the walls, but the apartment is still pretty bare.
“Sometimes it feels like no one cares,” he says quietly. “But…”
He doesn’t finish his sentence, but the look Scott gives me tells me he understands perfectly. It’s all too easy for queer kids to fall through the cracks. Sometimes their families turn them away or are apathetic to their struggles. Sometimes they simply need to know they’re not alone. That there are people out there who understand what they’re going through on a personal level. It’s why Scott created the community center in the first place. He wanted to help those kids and young adults any way he could. And he does.
“We’re here if you need us,” Scott tells him. “And I promise you, there’s always someone who cares.”
Phillip nods, but he doesn’t say a word.
Scott and I leave him to get settled in his new home, having left housewarming gifts in the form of some groceries in his fridge. The kid was living on ramen.
Scott stops me when we get outside the building. “Any response from the landlord?”
“Not yet, but I’ll let you know once I hear anything.”
Phillip’s lease was a month-to-month rental agreement, so it was easy enough to terminate. Usually, it would require a thirty-day notice, but the landlord accepted an early termination when I served him papers for the compensation of illegally obtained rental fees. I’ve yet to hear whether or not the man is going to fight us on it. All Phillip wants is his money back. Hopefully, we won’t have to go to court to get it.
Scott gives me a nod. “Keep me in the loop. And Teddy?”
“Yeah?”
“Bring your husband to the Halloween party this year.”
With that, Scott claps my shoulder and heads off. There’s no way he could have known how much that innocent comment would sting. Kipp and I might not even be husbands once Halloween rolls around. It’s not a thought I want to linger on.
I’m halfway to my car when my phone rings. My melancholy lifts as I see the name onscreen.
“Kipp?”
“Heyyy.”
I freeze. “What’s wrong?”
