Page 12 of Nicks and Cuts

“You came home and stayed because it’s familiar. I left because I’d outgrown it.” He eyed the pizza, wondering if he could fit in another slice or if it was going to lead to regrets. It wasn’t as though he needed to worry about bottoming later. Did Dante think about those things, or had he never gone that far?

That was not a conversation for tonight. Or any night, as they would not be sleeping together, or showering together, or making use of the very sturdy kitchen table.

“I can’t imagine outgrowing LA.”

“It seems huge, and it is huge, but maybe that was part of the problem.” He shrugged, not sure what else to say, if anything. “It just wasn’t the vibe I wanted anymore.”

“I’m not sure there’s a vibe here.”

Shannon laughed. “There’s a vibe. Maybe you need to go into town more. There’s a nice pub and a brewery that I haven’t tried yet.” Mostly because he’d been working nights.

“I’m familiar with the pub…I got tired of everyone’s concern. The whispers and looks because they all know I came back broken and orphaned. It’s all anyone wanted to talk about.” He finished his beer. “I thought about leaving, but only briefly because where would I go? So I figured if I wasn’t leaving, I needed to dig in and do something.”

“Thus the knives.”

Dante nodded. “At first it was a hobby, something to keep my hands busy and to get me moving again while I healed and got stronger.”

Shannon nodded. He liked the sound of that. “Maybe I need to heal and get stronger.”

“Learn how to say no?”

Shannon grinned like he was leaving the door open to his room. “Not to everything.”

But he was just teasing. Nothing was going to happen between them because they were in two very different places.

CHAPTER

SEVEN

Dante lay in bed listening to Shannon move around the kitchen. Yesterday he’d hauled his motorbike out of the fish trailer and taken off for most of the day. Which shouldn’t have bothered him…he should’ve been glad to have the place to himself, but it felt like Shannon was avoiding him.

Had they gotten too personal over pizza?

Or had that ship sailed when they’d stripped and showered?

He dragged himself out of bed and pulled on trackpants before padding out to the kitchen. Shannon was standing at the counter eating an omelet and drinking coffee from an oversized soup mug.

“Hey.” He took another forkful of omelet. “I’d offer to make you one, but I have to leave in five.”

“That’s okay, I can make my own breakfast.”

“I saw your collection of cereal.”

“Are you judging?”

He shook his head. “I thought you’d be eating a proper breakfast before bashing metal.”

“I have a proper morning tea, lunch and dinner.” He couldn’t face cooking first thing in the morning.

Shannon had returned from his ride with a backpack full of groceries and made some kind of chicken curry, which he’d offered to Dante. He’d refused even though it smelled amazing, and much better than what he tended to make. The leftovers Shannon had boxed up and put some in the freezer and some in the fridge, keeping everything organized and on his two shelves like he understood how to make the best use of every inch.

Dante poured cereal into a bowl and added milk before walking around to sit at the table like a civilized person. He was not bolting down food at the counter as if he was about to get yelled at by a drill sergeant. “You can sit.”

Shannon shook his head, then took a large swallow of coffee. “If I sit, I’ll get comfy, and then I’ll be late.” He tapped his phone screen. “I sit for lunch and dinner.”

“I’ll keep that in mind next time I make pancakes.” Which he rarely did because there was no point when it was just him. But when he had a lodger, sometimes he did. He sometimes put on a roast or slow-cooked some ribs, usually the weekend before they moved out.

Shannon moaned, which made Dante’s dick twitch at the memory of another way to make him groan. “I love pancakes, and I haven’t had them in ages. My ex was too worried about what he looked like, which meant anything I ate was considered sabotage.”