Orsen smiled back, then looked at the shirtless man again as he rubbed his crotch against another man, who then devouredhis lips. “Holy shit.” It was hot and Orsen was going to stand back and enjoy. Thoughts of Santino could wait until tomorrow.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Walking around the back of TJ and Cody’s house, Santino shouted through the back door, hearing TJ tell him to come inside. Stepping into the kitchen, he saw TJ sitting at the table with papers scattered around him. “Grab a beer. You can keep me company while I go over the station’s finances. Now that the case is settled against Cass Paarman and Angelo Ricci, I can see what we have and don’t have.”
“Have they gone after all their finances?” Santino had been involved in the case against Cass and Angelo for embezzlement and helped track some of the money down. Once they’d pleaded guilty, he’d been removed, so hadn’t been involved since.
“I think they have someone looking into it. Not as good or as quick as you.” TJ leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms over his head. “We’ve been a man short at the station for years. Whenever I brought it up, I was always told we had no funding, and now I know why.”
“So once this is figured out, you can apply for another officer.” TJ nodded.
“It’ll be nice not to work as many hours as I have been. Some days it feels like I live there. Cody puts up with hardly seeing me some weeks, but once we get this officer, I can take him away somewhere. I know he wants to see Mama, Jed, and the boys for longer than the couple of days I can usually spare.” TJ laughed. “Hell, even my parents have a better social life than I do.”
“I met them once in Tea for Two? discussing their next vacation.”
“I don’t blame them. They don’t work now, so why not spend their time doing all the things they put off when they worked and had me?” TJ sipped his beer, then said, “About you and Orsen.”
“I never saw it coming,” Santino murmured.
“Which bit? Him asking you to move in once the house is built or him dumping you?”
“Thanks for putting it that way, and both.”
“Where were you expecting this relationship to go? How long did you think you could carry on as you were? Orsen wants a home, a family. If there is anyone who deserves it, then it’s him. He wants that security, and he thought he had that with you.”
“He’s eighteen, TJ. He has his whole life ahead of him. I’m in my thirties now and ready to settle down, but he’s still adjusting to being in control and making his own choices.”
“So you think he shouldn’t decide how to live his life?” TJ narrowed his eyes as he spoke. “He’s old enough to make those decisions.”
“Well, of course he is…” Santino snapped his mouth shut when he saw the smile on TJ’s face. “Don’t.”
“You contradict yourself, Santino. He’s old enough to live his life the way he wants to, but when he wants to live it with you, you back away. It took me some time to fully settle into my relationship with Cody. For a long time, I saw him as theteenager I knew him to be, then he’d look at me and remind me he wasn’t that child anymore. He’s a couple of years older than Orsen, and both of them have lived different lives, but those lives matured them faster than they should have. They both know what they want, though I’ll admit in Orsen’s case he somehow has retained a certain innocence, but he isn’t innocent where it counts. From a young age, he was treated like shit. You have no idea how many times I tried to get him moved, but it was like hitting my head against a wall. He suffered, but he managed to stop that from tainting him.”
“He’s still so young.”
“He is, and he knows it, too. He knows he hasn’t lived the same life as other teenagers, but I guess we don’t have to worry about that now.”
The look on TJ’s face had Santino asking, “What do you mean?”
“He’s in the city with Cody and I’m going to pretend I know nothing about the ID that got him into a gay club.”
Santino shot up, the chair crashing to the floor behind him. “He’s in a gay club? Orsen? He’ll be eaten alive!”
“And he might enjoy it too, then he’ll have the experience you keep talking about, won’t he?”
Santino narrowed his eyes at TJ, clenching his jaw. “You knew they were going.”
“Cody mentioned taking Orsen out to have some fun as the old man he’d been dating couldn’t get his head out of his ass. I imagine by now, Orsen will have received lots of attention. Someone looking the way he does will have eyes on him. And he’s filled out some now that he’s been working out.” Shrugging, TJ added, “And he knows a little about pleasing a man thanks to you, so I’d say he’ll have a great time tonight.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Santino snapped. How could TJ let Orsen go to a club when he was underage? Orsen in a club withmen pawing at him and Santino needed to be there because Orsen was his…
“You’re not together anymore, so I had no need to tell you anything.” TJ stood and went to the fridge. “Did you get a beer?”
“Is this why you invited me over? To tell me what Orsen was doing now that he isn’t with me?”
“He would be with you, or he could be in a club with you. Not that I’m saying he should be there, as he’s breaking the law, but you know what they’re like nowadays.”
“Are you trying to make me jealous?” Santino clenched his hands, his jaw hard. “You’re telling me this to make me jealous, so I’ll ask Orsen to take me back?”
