Chapter 10 #2
“Yeah. He’s the goalie. He’s awesome, the main reason they’re second in their division.” I realized at Olivia’s shit-eating grin that my enthusiasm wasn’t quite neighbourly. “We’re friends,” I added. “Casual friends.” It was the truth, after all.
“I hear you,” Olivia said. “A pity he’s not in the women’s league. Gay weddings all over the place and no one gives a shit. Men are so fragile.”
Fragile might not be the right word, but I wasn’t going to argue with her.
Major league male sports were fucked up.
The NAPH had a few out gay men by now, but some of their coming outs had been rocky, and Seattle had cancelled their Pride night.
Callum wasn’t being paranoid, to not want to be visible.
Nicole laid a hand on my arm. “We won’t say anything. But I hope he at least becomes a good friend. We can all use a few of those.”
“For sure.” I stepped back. “You two drive safe, and if you need more hands to move stuff around, let me know. I’m sure Callum would help too.”
“We’ll do that.” Nicole grinned with a hint of wickedness that showed she and Olivia weren’t entirely an attraction of opposites. “As a bi woman, let me say, I will never turn down that bit of eye candy. I do love a ginger.”
Olivia laughed. “Quit teasing Zeke and get in the car, woman. We have things to do.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Nicole gave her a sloppy salute and climbed in the passenger side.
I waved them on their way, then headed back indoors. Callum and Jos had dragged the bins to the living room and opened them. Sitting side by side, red head and dark together, they bent over the deeper tub, carefully lifting out comics.
“Maybe try separating them by date,” Callum said. “Or by category. I don’t think this dude had a system.”
“Or having breakfast first?” I suggested. “The bacon will be getting cold.”
“Bacon.” Callum straightened fast. “Lead me to it.”
“I could keep working,” Jos suggested.
“Nah.” Callum held down a hand to him. “Eat and fuel up. Basic common sense. We have an expert on the way, and he won’t arrive for half an hour yet. Perfect time to have bacon.”
Jos hesitated, but to my surprise, he put his hand in Callum’s and let himself be hauled to his feet. “I could eat something.”
“You do like bacon, right?” Callum peered at him in mock confusion. “Food of the gods.”
“I guess.”
“He guesses.” Callum turned to me. “Zeke, you are mentoring this apprentice all wrong. He’s not sure about bacon.”
Jos’s snicker was music to my ears. “You’re weird.”
“But also six-three and a hundred and ninety pounds of pure muscle, which I got by eating… well, not so much bacon but a full breakfast, for sure. And if Zeke wants to cook for us, we gotta take advantage.” Callum strode into the kitchen and Jos followed, looking bemused but not resisting.
I cooked. Callum devoured eggs and toast and bacon in a quantity that made Jos give me a wide-eyed stare, although I noticed the pro player didn’t dig into the donuts.
Jos did, and ate some bacon on the side, which was more breakfast than I usually got into him.
He watched Callum chug down a second mug of coffee and asked, “Can I have coffee too?”
The rules and strictures I was brought up with pushed me to say no, but really, this was the best morning we’d had, and what would it hurt?
“Sure.” I poured him half a mug. “Cream or sugar?” Although maybe I should make him drink it black and he’d be put off the stuff until he started cramming for exams.
“I guess,” he said.
I doctored his mug with a little of each and passed it over, pretending not to see him wrinkle his nose as he took a sip.
We were lingering over the food when a car pulled up in front and someone knocked on the door.
“I’ll go.” Callum bounced to his feet and ducked out of sight down the hall. I heard him say, “Sully. You made it, dude. Hey, Hannah.”
Jos threw me a quick look at the woman’s voice, and I wondered momentarily if that was too many strangers in his space for one morning.
But then Ethan Sullivan, whom I recognized from some recent Googling of the Foxes, bounded into the kitchen ahead of Callum.
“Hey, hi, I’m Sully. Lead me to the goodies. ”
His girlfriend followed him in and elbowed him blatantly. “Give them a chance to say hello.”
He grinned. “Hello. Hey, you still have donuts. Can I?”
“Help yourself.” I couldn’t help smiling back. Sully’s bright eyes and snub nose and thick blond curls made him look like a manic hobbit. One close to six feet tall.
“Thankmphf.” He stuffed a cruller in his mouth in three bites. “Now I need to wash my hands. Oops.”
Callum said, “That’s Zeke and Jos, and the sink’s over there. Guys, this maniac used to be my roommate, and the sane, pretty one is his girlfriend, Hannah.”
Hannah smiled at me. “I think playing a game for a living stunts their social development.”
“Hey,” Sully said. “I’m social.”
“Yes. Yes, you are.”
He laughed and dried his hands on a paper towel. “So, did someone say comic books? Tell me they’re in acid-free protective sleeves.”
“More like giant plastic tubs,” Callum said. “Come on, Jos, let’s show the man.”
Hannah and I hung back in the kitchen as the other three headed for their treasure trove. “Thanks for inviting us over,” she murmured. “Ethan was worried about Callum. He said Callum takes losses really hard, especially any time he lets in more than a couple of goals.”
“He was kind of beating himself up about it last night,” I agreed.
“He looks good this morning.” She nodded at the two big players and the slender boy huddled around the first bin. “It took forever for me to convince Ethan to move in with me. He didn’t want to abandon Callum.”
“I guess it worked out, what with the water damage.”
“Yeah. Lucky timing.”
“And with Callum wanting to move in with his grandpa.” Although that reminded me of Uncle Wayne, and whatever his presence would do to Callum’s peace of mind.
I really hoped Wayne wouldn’t drive Callum off to live elsewhere, and not just because it was convenient to have someone Jos trusted next door.
Not just because I couldn’t get the memory of his hands on my skin out of my head either.
“Callum’s a good guy.” Hannah pushed a strand of her dark hair off her face and looked up at me. “You might not think it from all his penalties and stuff, but he’s really kind.”
I watched Callum patiently listening to Jos, his shoulders straining the button-down shirt, his ass a delectable curve in those fitted slacks, all his attention on my little brother, who finally seemed to have a lot to say. “Yeah,” I agreed. “I think I figured that out.”