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Allen and Abe walked into the cabin before I had a chance to reply, which was fine by me. I wondered if Jeremy had been carrying a torch for Abe, and I didn’t want to rub our relationship in his face. Allen’s white-blond hair looked silver in the waning sunlight. He held a case of beer in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other. Dread knotted my stomach. When I’d invited them here, it had been to help Abe work through his grief. I’d shopped for ingredients to make the chili and cornbread they loved so much and figured we’d play games or shoot the shit for a few hours before turning in. Abe’s week had been spectacularly heinous, not allowing him much time to grieve, and he’d be face-to-face with his asshole relatives the next day. Getting shitfaced on beer and whiskey wasn’t the solution to his problem.
I squelched my internal diatribe because Abe was a grown-ass man who could decide the best course of action for dealing with his grief. He took the beer and whiskey from Allen and headed toward the kitchen. When our eyes met, the exhaustion he felt was etched in his features, and the smile on his lips wasn’t reflected in his gaze.
Allen crossed the room, and happiness radiated from him. He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed tight. His embrace was as gregarious as his personality. “It’s been too long, man. I’ve really missed you.”
I pulled back from Allen’s embrace and smiled at him. “I’ve missed you too, buddy.”
He was the kind of guy who was all jokes and silliness until it was time to get to work, then he shifted into laserlike focus. The dichotomy of his personality had given me whiplash when I’d first met him, but I’d grown to appreciate and admire Allen’s adaptable temperament. I was too rigid sometimes, setting boundaries and rules that were off-putting to some and divisive to others. Not Abe. He understood me and accepted me for all my faults.
Yet you put conditions on your love, making Abe jump through hoops while you remained rigid and unyielding?Oh hell no. I’d have to do much better than that if we would have a ghost of a chance at making a relationship work, and I desperately wanted—needed—Abe’s love in my life.
“I’m going to get the chili going while you guys catch up,” I told Jeremy and Allen.
Mostly, I wanted to make sure Abe and I were okay. He was still unpacking the beer into the ancient refrigerator when I stepped into the small kitchen. Abe typically just set the carton in the fridge, and the emptying felt like a delay tactic. Had he wanted to speak to me too?
I snagged the sour cream and cheddar cheese off the counter and walked them to the refrigerator. Abe loved to top his chili with the ingredients, but we wouldn’t need them for a few hours.
Abe straightened, met my gaze, and winked. His downturned lips didn’t match the gesture, though.
“I shouldn’t have sprung this on you. I hope you’re not mad.” Before he could respond, I leaned closer and whispered, “And this isn’t a test.”
Abe quirked a brow. “How’d you know the thought crossed my mind?”
“Because I know how your brain works. The real question is: did you dismiss it right away or believe it?”
Tilting his head, Abe said, “What do you think?”
I searched his expression and all I saw was love. “You dismissed it outright.”
The refrigerator was the type with the freezer on top, and it was much shorter than the newer models on the market, so with the door open, Allen and Jeremy would only see us from the shoulders up. Abe took advantage of that and hooked his fingers in my belt loops to tug me closer. He grazed the back of his hand over the front of my jeans, then settled it on my hip. His other hand rested casually on top of the refrigerator door.
“Where do you plan to sleep tonight?” he asked.
I placed my hand on his stomach and loved how his muscles flexed under his flannel shirt. I saw a spark in his baby blues that promised to chase his exhaustion away. “Beside you, under you, on you, or wherever you need me to be.”
Abe’s hold on my hip turned bruising, and I fucking loved it. “In me, Lio?”
I pictured myself falling asleep in his arms with my spent cock still in his ass. I glanced into the living room and caught Jeremy shifting his gaze between Allen and us. “Not with them here.”
He inhaled sharply and licked his bottom lip. “Fuck, Lio. Maybe you can spike their chili with NyQuil and knock them out.”
I chuckled and tipped my head toward the whiskey on the counter. “I don’t think that will be necessary, but I’d rather wait until it’s just the two of us.” And we needed to have a deeper conversation than the one we shared after Earl passed away. I released his shirt and rested my hand over his heart. Abe held my gaze for several seconds then nodded.
We couldn’t hide behind the refrigerator door forever, so I retreated to the counter where I’d laid the peppers and onions. Following my cue, Abe shut the door and headed into the living room with two beers in hand.
“None for you?” Allen asked as he accepted the beer Abe offered him.
“Nah. I need to be levelheaded tomorrow when the miscreants show up. I need to ensure they don’t steal anything that isn’t bolted down.”
“I feel sorry for whoever has to bunk with me,” Allen said. “I love beans, but they don’t love me.”
Abe changed the topic before they could delve too deeply into who was sleeping where. I expected Jeremy to pipe in with his suspicions, but he kept his mouth shut. I sliced and diced peppers and browned lean ground beef and Italian sausage while Abe caught up on what everyone was doing.
Allen had recently been promoted to sales director at his dealership, which surprised no one. He could sell water to a drowning man.
“I’m between jobs right now,” Jeremy said. “Call it a difference of opinion with management. I thought they were fucking morons, and they were under the impression they could do no wrong.”
“If you’re looking for something, I could get you on at my dealership,” Allen suggested.
