Chapter 3
Chapter Three
RYKER
I was a little wary when Gina asked me if it was okay for another one of her clients to view the apartment along with me. I was a little put off by it, but then again, people had their own way of doing things here in Kither Springs.
It had been on the tip of my tongue to refuse since I’d been waiting months for a decent place to open up around here, but then Gina mentioned Sam Monroe was the person who would be touring with me and the reason he’d missed his appointment, so I agreed.
I knew Sam from school. We’d probably had all the same classes growing up, but that wasn’t anything special, considering there was only one class for our entire grade of about forty students.
Despite knowing him for most of my life, we were never close. Friendly, sure, but not close enough to be considered friends.
I’d always been the quiet one in school, while Sam was the social butterfly who’d naturally drawn people to him. He was well liked by the other students and teachers, and it was no figure considering the type of person he was.
It had been years since I’d last seen him—since our high school graduation—but the thing that stuck to me about him was how kind he was. He treated everyone with the same compassion regardless of who they were, and despite his petite size, he was never afraid to stick up for someone, even if they were bigger than him.
Growing up, I’d always been bigger than most of the kids in my grade. I’d been an awkward boy who’d towered over everyone else, and it didn’t help I was chubby to boot.
My parents always said I was big-boned, and I’d eventually grow into myself, and while they weren’t wrong, that hadn’t made it any easier to live with as a child. Being easily the biggest kid around, it made me an easy target.
But never from Sam. He’d always stand up for me when he saw the other kids teasing me. He’d get mad, puff up his little cheeks, and yell at the other kids until he was red in the face to come to my defense.
The teasing had eventually stopped, either from Sam always making a big fuss when it happened or me growing even taller and larger until I was twice the size of everyone in my class.
It was that kindness that made me hesitate about immediately rejecting Gina’s request. Besides, I heard this was a two-bedroom place, so if Sam wasn’t opposed to it, maybe we could even be roommates.
Sam came running to our meeting spot not long later. “Thanks for waiting for me,” he huffed out, then bent over, hands on his knees as he caught his breath.
It looked like he’d run all the way over here with how out of breath he was. I reached into my back pocket and offered him the unopened bottle of water I’d snatched on the way out of work today.
“Thanks,” he said, accepting the bottle. He took large gulps and then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
He stood up straight, and I was finally able to get a good look at him.
Sam hadn’t changed much since the last time I’d seen him. He was more mature now. The angles on his face were sharper, and his lips fuller than they used to be. His cupid’s bow was more pronounced too, and I never knew that could be so attractive.
I had to stop myself there, because why did it feel like I was checking him out? I wasn’t interested in men like that.
Sam was handsome, and it wasn’t weird for other people to appreciate his beauty. And that’s what I was going to stick with.
Besides his more mature face, not much else had changed. He hadn’t grown taller since the last time I saw him, either.
On the other hand, I’d changed a lot since high school. I’d somehow grown even taller, surpassing my dad’s height by a couple of inches. Compared to my six-foot-three, Sam barely reached the bottom of my chin.
I’d also lost all my baby fat. Muscles from years of exercise and working on the construction site had turned the fat into muscles I was proud of. I was no longer the awkward, chubby bear, but had become someone one might consider handsome, or at least that was what my friends told me.
There was surprise on Sam’s face, and for a second, I wondered if I’d changed so much that I’d become unrecognizable.
The thought of Sam not remembering me shouldn’t have stung as much as it did. It wasn’t like we were all that close in school, and who would remember the terribly shy, quiet boy anyway?
But then his confusion morphed into a bright smile that had his deep-set eyes sparkling.
“Why, Ryker West, is that you?” he asked.
Not only had he remembered who I was, he’d even remembered my name. Something about that had a little tickle starting in my chest.
I nodded but then remembered I needed to use my words. That was another thing my friends kept bugging me about.
“Yep, that’s me,” I said, but it came out more like a rumble than anything in a normal human range. I cleared my throat and tried again. “It’s good to see you again, Sam.”
“Wow. It’s good to see you, too. And thank you so much for letting me come on the tour with you,” he replied. Then, under his breath like he hadn’t meant for anyone else to hear, I caught the tail end of him saying something about a sexy bear.
I couldn’t help but wonder if he was talking about me, which had heat rising to my cheeks.
It wasn’t the first time I’d been called a bear, considering my size, but nobody’s ever called me a sexy bear.
Sam never hid the fact that he was gay, and I wondered if I could be his type. That thought pleased me to no end, but I wasn’t going to linger on why it had.
“Great! Now that we’re all here, let’s start the tour,” Gina piped up.
She was a tiny redhead with a personality as fiery as her hair. She’d moved to town a decade ago and had been the primary real estate agent for the surrounding area for years before corporations had targeted our town to capitalize on the boom.
We followed her to the stairwell and up the outdoor stairs to the first unit on the second floor.
“This building is a little old, but the apartment was renovated when the last tenant moved out. The place has only been on the market for a few days, but there have already been dozens of applicants. If it wasn’t for Annabelle’s strict requirements, this place would’ve been rented out in a matter of minutes. Luckily, I was able to give you guys a tour before anyone else,” she said with a wink, then unlocked the front door.
“Both of the bedrooms, bathroom, and kitchen have been renovated to be more modern. The bedrooms are a modest size—not the biggest—but you should be able to fit a king-size bed in one of them,” she said, then eyed me up and down.
I followed Gina and Sam into the first room. As she’d said, the space wasn’t huge, and it would be a tight squeeze, but my king-size bed should be able to fit inside.
“There’s plenty of closet space for everything you might need too,” Gina continued.
She wasn’t kidding. The closet was probably half the size of the bedroom.
“The second room is a bit smaller, but it should be enough for a queen,” she said with a polite smile toward Sam’s way. “The place is more than enough space for the two of you if you do decide to room together.”
Sam didn’t look surprised by the suggestion, so I assumed Gina had already talked to him. I studied his face, hoping to catch a hint of what he thought about us living together, but his expression gave nothing away.
“I do have to mention that because of the way the building was originally designed, the soundproofing isn’t the best. You shouldn’t have too much problem with the unit next door as the bedrooms are placed on the opposite ends, but you might hear some outside sounds in the bedrooms.”
“I don’t have a problem with that,” I replied.
I was a pretty quiet person anyway, and if I was living with Sam, I sure as hell wasn’t going to bring any dates or hookups here.
That made me wonder if Sam was dating anyone. I heard he’d moved back here last summer to help his sister with her pregnancy, but I hadn’t seen him around.
The baby had probably kept him busy. Too busy for dating, I hoped.
And there I went again, thinking stupid thoughts that I had no right thinking.
Something had to be wrong with me today for me to be acting this way. Acting like I was…interested in Sam.
I was far too old to be questioning my sexuality, especially when I’d never looked twice at another guy before.
Thankfully, before I could think too deeply about it, Sam spoke up.
“That’s fine with me, too. For the price Annabelle’s wanting, I’d be fine even if she demanded quiet hours,” Sam joked.
I nodded because, quite honestly, even if there were required ‘quiet hours’ for the price Annabelle was asking for rent—which was far below the current market price, made even lower if I split it with Sam—I was ready to agree to whatever she wanted.
“And you said she’s okay with me bringing my cat?” I asked, then turned to Sam. “If we’re going to live together, you have to know my cat goes wherever I go.”
Sam smiled. “I love animals, so no issues on my end.”
“Perfect! And yes, Annabelle has signed off on pets. She’s an animal lover, too,” Gina said with a clap of her hands. “Because this is a special situation, Annabelle does need to give the final approval before we can finalize everything. But I think she’ll be very happy to rent the place to you. You two can take one more look around, and I’ll pop downstairs to get her,” Gina said and then she was gone out the front door.
Sam opened one of the kitchen cabinets. With his face half-turned to me, he said, “The place is nice.”
I nodded, but then my best friend’s voice once again appeared in my mind, telling me to use my words.
“It is. I’m surprised Annabelle is offering what she is for it when she could charge so much more. But I guess it’s a good thing for us.”
Sam chuckled, then turned to face me completely.
“Are you sure you’re okay living with me? I kinda just hijacked your appointment there,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“I’m okay with it if you are. Besides, you were technically supposed to see the place before me. I’m just lucky it worked out this way,” I said, hoping I didn’t sound too awkward.
Sam laughed. The sound was pleasant, like a soothing melody. I wondered if he was a good singer.
“Gina told me what happened today. I hope your nephew is okay.”
The words tumbled out before I could think about it. I wanted to continue chatting with him, but I’d never been too good at carrying a conversation. I hoped he didn’t think I was just being nosy.
“Thanks. The doctor said everything should be good. My sister and Gramps are at the clinic with Junior now. Right, did you know Dan’s working at his father’s clinic? You remember Dan from our class, right?” Sam rambled, and I wondered if he was as nervous or as desperate to fill the silence as I was.
That didn’t make sense since he had nothing to be nervous about, but I didn’t remember him to be someone who rambled.
I nodded. “Dan’s one of my good friends now.”
“He did mention one of his friends was looking at a place today. Was he talking about you?”
I nodded again. I’d messaged the group last night about the showing. They’d been excited for me since they knew how hard it’d been to even find a decent place within my price range.
“Wow, what a small world,” he said with a chuckle.
“More like a small town,” I said, then instantly cringed at the stupid comment.
Of course, Sam knew the town was small. He grew up here, for fuck’s sake.
Instead of pointing out my very obvious statement, Sam laughed again. The musical sound calmed the anxiety that had been building up at my silly comment.
“So, what’s it like being back in town? How are your grandpa and sister? Tell me about your nephew.” I asked the questions back-to-back and had to force my mouth shut before I bombarded him with even more. Anything to keep him talking.
We moved to stand in the living room. Sam smiled and patiently told me about life back in Kither Springs. His sister was now working at the hair salon in town. Since his gramps was a morning person, he usually took care of the baby while Sam and his sister worked.
Sam would take over watching the baby for a few hours after lunch until his sister returned home. Apparently, he worked online doing marketing or something with social media. I wasn’t too big on the technological stuff, so it went over my head, but I still enjoyed hearing him talk about it.
Then when he got to talking about his nephew, Sam absolutely lit up. It was easy to tell he loved Russell Junior, and I was sure the baby loved him right back.
I could see Sam being good with kids. There was a kindness to him that could draw anybody in. That was his charm, even when we were silly little kids who knew nothing of the world.
“Don’t tell anyone this, but I’ve been secretly whispering ‘unckie’ to him, hoping that it will be his first word,” he whispered, even though we were the only ones in the room. “My sister will throw a fit if she finds out I’ve been referring to her as ‘mother’ in front of him. This will be our little secret, okay?” he said with a finger to his lips.
I immediately nodded. A silent thrill shot up my body at knowing Sam and I shared something only the two of us knew.
I liked that. A lot more than I wanted to admit.