Sam reacted like a middle schooler who’d heard a rude word. “Ooooh!”
I got Mom a soda too, in case she needed something to throw at Sam.
“Does that mean he’s not a secret?” I asked.
Beside me, Chase snorted.
“We’re going for coffee next week, that’s all,” Mom said, the color in her cheeks rising.
“Ooooh!” Sam said again.
Mom ignored her and ordered the pizza.
It was a typical Torres family dinner. We talked shit, stole each other’s slices, and argued about things that didn’t matter. We also laughed a lot. Chase didn’t say much, but that was mainly because he was busy eating his body weight in pizza, not because he was trying to be polite or anything. He seemed relaxed and gave as good as he got whenever Sam picked on him, and there was a brightness to his eyes that made me sure he was having fun.
Afterward he walked outside with me when I took the trash out, and I caught him turning around to look back at the house. It was nothing fancy, but the light spilling out into the dark street made it seem warm.
“I can drive you back to Goose Run,” I said. “Or you can stay over. Your choice.”
“If I stay over, I’ll have to go to work with you in the morning,” he said. “An hour early.”
“I can make it worth your while.”
He snorted. “Will you blow me in your childhood bedroom?”
“Also my early adulthood bedroom,” I said. “And sure. But I was going to suggest that if you have to come into work an hour early, the first thing out of the oven in the morning will be peanut butter cookies.”
“What about the bread?”
“Fuck the bread. Peanut butter cookies come first.”
He grinned at me. “That’s not breakfast food. I want quiches.”
“Deal,” I said.
“We’ll need to swing past my place in the morning and get me some clean work clothes.”
“Or I can throw yours in the washer here.”
“Then I guess I’m staying,” he said.
I wasn’t sure how he’d made it seem like he was doing me the favor by staying when I was the one who’d ended up agreeing to do his laundry and make him quiches in the morning. Oh, and give him a blow job, but that was no hardship. But also, I got why he was hesitant. Given how things had turned out last time Chase had stayed overnight, this was a big step for him. This was him actually committing to both a new beginning and a second chance, like we both wanted.
“I guess you are,” I said and held out my hand.
He took it, and I led him back toward the house.
CHAPTER 19
CHASE
THREE MONTHS LATER
Wilder dropped the bomb everyone had been expecting at our weekly cookout. It was summer, and the bugs were out, humming and buzzing in the background like a weird-ass orchestra warming up.
“So,” he said, a crease furrowing his brow, “me and Avery have been talking, and I’m moving in over there.”
Danny picked at the label of his beer bottle and said, “That’s cool, man. When are you thinking?”
