Chapter Twenty
Santino pointed at Cody when he denied feeding Charlie. “He’s put on weight. The vet side-eyed me when I told him it wasn’t me, then told me what weight gain can do to a dog.”
Cody looked away, then pouted. “But he pulls these sad faces, and I can’t say no,” he whined. “How can you say no to him? He’s so cute and fluffy, and he gives me lots of cuddles.”
“I knew you were feeding him.” Santino gave Cody a mock glare, then sighed and shook his head.
“I’m not sitting here to be abused like this. Come on, Orsen.”
Orsen snorted, smiled at Santino, and followed Cody to the porch where they both sat. A minute later, they both looked over at Santino and he sighed, guessing what they were talking about.
“Hmm. They seem deep in conversation. What are they talking about?”
“Probably the fact that we had sex.”
TJ glanced over his shoulder at Santino, then nodded. “I like how you took your time with him. Cody told me Orsen tried to rush you, but you told him to be patient and wait.”
“It’s his first time, and I wanted it to be good for him.
I was lucky with my first guy, but I know some who regret who they first slept with.
I didn’t want to rush him.” No, he’d wanted Orsen to be ready, and their night together had exceeded all of Santino’s expectations.
He never thought Orsen would take charge like that, and he wanted to experience it again.
“And the age gap?” TJ glanced at him, then went back to the steaks he was grilling. “Still struggling?”
“Are you?” Santino arched an eyebrow.
TJ chuckled but shook his head. “For a while, I did, but then Cody dragged me into town. Told me we should get it over with and let the gossips have their day. Their day turned out to be a month. It was a slow month, so we were top gossip. Of course, Cody got annoyed and made a point of talking about us whenever he went into town.”
“Ouch.” Santino winced. “A whole month. Not sure I want to go through that.” Santino smiled when he heard Orsen laugh.
“You got it bad.”
Santino looked back at TJ. “I guess I have. I want him to be happy.” He sipped his water, watching Orsen smile. “You know he knocked the place down?”
“Yeah. It would have been condemned, anyway. Not sure how it lasted as long as it did.”
“He said he went and watched them tear it down.” Santino would have liked to have been there to give Orsen support, but maybe it was something Orsen needed to do by himself.
TJ nodded. “We offered to go but he said he had to do it himself.” TJ glanced at Santino. “Has he said what he plans to do with the land?”
Santino watched Orsen smile at something Cody said. “I’m not one hundred percent certain. I told him to build a place that was his and it would be a huge ‘fuck you’ to Ambrose. He’s been talking to the men who work with Crompton. One mentioned a creek?”
“Orsen owns some gorgeous land out there now. He could build several properties and still have acres left. Could be a potential investment plan for the future. Build some properties and rent them out as vacation homes.” TJ picked up a plate and placed the steaks on it. “Steaks are done.”
“At last.” Cody bounded over and kissed TJ, then grinned as he took the plate and put it on the table. Salad, vegetables, potatoes, and corn on the cob were brought out and Santino rubbed his stomach. “Dig in.”
“This looks great. Thanks.” Santino watched Orsen look at the food, then smile and take a nice-sized steak. Cody nodded, then passed the corn to Orsen, who took some and passed it on. Santino filled his plate and then asked, “How are the kids?”
“Good,” Cody answered. “We’ll be having them next weekend and I’m taking Cassy and the boys to the city for a day.”
“Leaving me with the young ones.” TJ smiled as he shook his head at Cody.
“You’re better with the young ones. I can handle the teenagers fine.”
“Where do they all sleep?” Orsen asked. “You have three bedrooms and five kids.”
“We don’t have Christian every weekend. He’s still a baby, so maybe once a month just so Toni and Carter can have a break.
When he’s here, he sleeps in our room. The girls share a room, and so do the boys.
It does get cramped when we have all five of them.
That’s seven people in total, but we make it work. ” TJ shrugged. “It’s family.”
“And the boys are into working out now, so I take them to the basement and do a light workout with them. Cassy likes clothes and makeup.” Cody ate some food, then sipped his soda. “So it’ll be me, Arthur, Lincoln, and Cassy. We’ll be fine and TJ will have Macy, who adores her papa.”
“I’m taking her into town. She wants to go to Tea for Two? and they love her in there.” TJ sipped his beer, then looked at Orsen. “Have you thought about what you want to do with the land? There’s no rush, but it would be nice to have a place of your own.”
Orsen glanced at Santino, then shrugged a shoulder. “I went to the creek, and it looks like it would be a nice place to build a house.” Lifting his hand, Orsen rubbed his shoulder. “I need to go back to the therapist.”
“Are the exercises helping?” Cody asked. “You seem better with it.”
“It’s much better now, and doesn’t hurt, but sometimes it feels… stiff?” Orsen pulled a face. “Not all the time, though.”
“You were stabbed in the shoulder. It’ll take time for you to gain full function. You’re doing great, so keep up with the exercises.” TJ pushed his plate away when a furry head appeared. “Santino. Your dog is here.”
“Have you been giving him treats?”
“Me?” TJ coughed and looked away.
“I knew it!” Cody pointed at TJ. “I knew I wasn’t the only one feeding Charlie.” Looking at Santino, Cody said, “See? Don’t be blaming me for all of Charlie’s weight gain. It’s him too.”
Sighing, Santino shook his head and asked, “Do I need to find someone else to look after him when I have to stay in the city?”
“What? No! Of course not. We can look after him.” Cody narrowed his eyes at TJ. “Can’t we?”
TJ pursed his lips, inhaled, then nodded. “We’ll look after him and put him on a diet as well. He has put a little weight on while he’s been staying with us.”
“No wonder he’s always so happy when I mention your names.” Santino rubbed Charlie’s ears when he came over, begging for food. “You’re on a diet, so no steak for you.”
“How can you refuse that face?” Cody stared at Santino, then down at Charlie. “Look at him. You must have a cold, cold heart, Santino.” Cody clapped his hands. “Come here, Charlie. Let Cody show you some love.”
“Cody. I want him to live a long, healthy life. If you find his face too hard to resist—”
“I’ll feed him healthy treats instead.” Cody wrapped his arms around Charlie. “Don’t take my Charlie boy away. I promise I’ll be good.”
Chuckling softly, Santino didn’t respond to Cody. “Did I hear on the gossip highway that Miles Owen has come out as bi?” Miles was TJ’s deputy and had worked at Robinson’s sheriff's office for years.
TJ sat back in his chair and looked at the house, his brow furrowed.
“I don’t like to comment, but as it’s already doing the rounds…
yeah, he has. Came to me for some advice about it.
He wasn’t struggling with it. It was more like he was shocked to realize he was attracted to men.
He asked me how I dealt with it. I wasn’t young when it finally clicked with me.
I was married with kids. Miles is single but went to the city and met someone.
It was only one night and not much happened beyond kissing, but it was enough for him to have questions. ”
“It’s good he had you to talk to. I remember when I realized I was attracted to men.
I’m the first one to come out as gay in my family, though I doubt I am the first gay man.
” Santino smiled. “I’m lucky. I guess that my family doesn’t care, as long as I have kids.
My mamma sent me information about adoption. ”
“She’s eager. My parents are happy with the boys and now they include Toni and Carter’s kids as well.”
“It takes a village to raise a child,” Santino murmured, a soft smile on his face. “You guys have that village.”
TJ nodded. “We do, and I know how lucky we are. When Toni and I divorced, we agreed the boys came first, no matter what happened between us. I’m lucky Toni is still one of my closest friends, and Carter is a good friend, too.”
“We talk every day,” Cody added. “And I get to play with Arthur and Lincoln on their consoles, which reminds me I need to kill Lincoln when we go over tomorrow.” Cody touched his eye, which had fully healed from its encounter with Lincoln’s controller.
“At least your black eye has healed.” Orsen pushed his plate away and sighed. “You need to wear a helmet.”
Cody snorted, then burst out laughing. “I should go over in the riot gear that they have at the station. That would get the gossips going. Helmet, and protective padding. Oh and the riot shield.” Cody twisted in his seat and faced TJ. “Has Robinson ever had a riot or needed the riot gear?”
“Nope, never, and it costs a lot of money. Sits in a room gathering dust. At least Santino has sorted all the finances out. I can put in a request for an additional officer. Shouldn’t have taken over a year to get to this stage.”
“It wouldn’t have taken this long if the council responded in a timely fashion.” Scratching Charlie behind the ears, Santino added, “You have no idea how many emails I had to send to get them to respond to basic questions.”
“I deal with them on an almost daily basis, so I share your pain,” TJ muttered. “We should fire them all and begin again.”
“Now that would give the gossips something to talk about.”
Cody stretched and Santino paused to admire Cody’s body. He wasn’t attracted to Cody the way he was Orsen, but he could admire a man who worked hard on his physique. “How often do you work out?”
“I should be asking you that. I work out daily, and I’ve recently included yoga and animal flow as well. I need to keep my body and skin flexible.”
“I was about to ask if you had included a flexibility routine. I’ve seen your back and scar tissue can be rigid, so you would need to include stretching and mobility in your exercise regimen. Do you have a weekly or monthly massage? That will help to keep skin supple.”
Cody’s mouth opened, then shut. “I forget you can be direct and no, I hadn’t considered massage, but I will now.”
“Hmm, might be a good idea.” TJ ran his hand over Cody’s back and smiled at him. “We can look into it.” Cody returned TJ’s smile, then leaned over and kissed him.
Charlie barked, and Santino shushed him. “No food for you.”
Orsen leaned into Santino and sighed. “The food was really nice. Thank you.”
“We like having you guys over, and Toni and Carter have invited you both to their party next weekend. They said to bring your own drinks. They don’t mind feeding us all, but we need to bring the beer.” TJ kissed Cody’s cheek and sighed. “I’m tired. It’s been a long week.”
“It’s been a long year. Longer, actually. At least you’ll get that officer now.” Cody rested his head on TJ’s shoulder.
“That would be nice, then I think we should go away. Maybe we could visit Mama and Jed. We haven’t been recently.”
“They know how busy you’ve been, and I have college, but a weekend would be nice. We could take the kids. All of them.”
TJ arched an eyebrow at Cody. “You think they would be happy with all the kids?”
“Maybe not Christian. He is still young, but the other four should be okay. Mama loves kids. We can take Toni’s car. We should all be able to fit in that.”
“I’ll let you sort it out.”
Santino stood and began picking up the plates. “Let me and Orsen clear this away, then we’ll leave you two alone.”
It didn’t take long for Santino and Orsen to tidy up, and by the time they left, TJ was yawning and ready to relax. And Santino was ready for some alone time with Orsen.