Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
FRANKIE
Frankie skidded to a halt when he glanced across the street and saw a very familiar food truck. It was bad enough he was running into Lucas left and right at his apartment building, but it seemed like now he was everywhere he turned.
He took a breath, then glanced at the little café he’d been heading toward for his lunch, and without really giving his body permission, he headed for the crosswalk.
He came out of his daze when he approached the dwindling line, and his stomach twisted in a knot when he got in behind a broad man with dark brown hair wearing a leather jacket.
“Hey, hot stuff,” the man said as he knocked a little pattern on the side of the truck.
Lucas leaned out. “Oh my god, what are you doing here?”
“I came for an afternoon cuddle. My day has been shit. I had to rescue an actual cat from a tree, but it wasn’t like the movies.”
Lucas grinned. “How torn up are you?”
“Shredded. Do you have first aid? I don’t want to get cat scratch fever.”
“Dude, that is a song my granddad likes.”
“It’s a real thing, fuck you,” the guy said with a sniff. He turned slightly, and Frankie was able to catch his profile. He was gorgeous because of course he was. He hadn’t thought to ask if Lucas had a boyfriend. “Anyway, nurse me back to health?”
“Aren’t you the EMT?”
“Yes, but someone has to baby me, and my dad refused. He told me I was getting on his nerves, and he made me leave. Kiss my boo-boos.”
“You’re such an asshole. Is there anyone behind you?”
The guy turned, and his eyes widened. “Oh shit. Uh…yeah. There’s a guy. Sorry, man. I don’t mean to be a creep. I swear I know him.”
“He’s lying,” Lucas said. “Stranger danger!”
“Fuck you. One of these days, I’m going to get arrested for harassing a blind man.”
“Help help, I’m a blind man being harassed!”
Frankie swallowed heavily. “It’s fine.” His voice came out low and husky from the tension in his throat.
The guy softened. “I’m not actually ordering anything. I’m coming around, babe. I really do need your first aid kit.”
Frankie’s heart sank down to his toes. He wondered if he could disguise his voice well enough that Lucas wouldn’t be able to tell it was him. Then again, why would he care? It wasn’t like he knew Frankie was developing a wildly inappropriate crush.
“Hey. How can I help you?” Lucas asked.
Frankie cleared his throat. “I saw you parked here, and I was kind of hoping for another PB and J.”
Lucas’s eyes began to blink a little faster. “Francisco?”
“Oh god, please call me Frankie. Only my mother ever called me by that name, and she’s…we don’t…it’s a thing.”
“Right. I remember,” Lucas said. “Frankie. I totally have bread and peanut butter. I even have jelly and a grill.”
He couldn’t help his smile, even as he saw the other guy’s head bobbing around the truck as he searched the cabinets. “It’s in the far right one,” he called.
The guy opened it. “Oh shit. How the fuck do you know that? Dude, is there something you’re not telling me?”
“He’s the health inspector,” Lucas said flatly.
The guy appeared in the window, his eyes narrowed. “Wait. You’re the asshole who said Lucas couldn’t do his job properly because he was blind? Are you fucking serious right now? How do you sleep at night?”
“Gage,” Lucas groaned. “Please don’t.”
“No. Fuck this guy,” Gage said, pointing at Frankie.
He felt like shit all over again. “I didn’t say he couldn’t do his job. I…I said his labels were wrong and some other things I deeply regret. But if you didn’t already know, I did come back and gave him a fair assessment. And I really am sorry.”
Gage glanced at Lucas, who stood up a little straighter. “I told you it was fine last night when you were wine-drunk on my couch.”
“I don’t remember things when I’m wine-drunk,” Gage said. “You know this.”
Frankie felt…odd. Uncomfortable and jealous because those two were obviously wildly close and probably deeply in love, and that was not a life he was ever going to live. “Look, I can just head to the café across the street. I don’t want to disturb your afternoon date.”
“Uh, whoa, wait,” Lucas said as Gage leaned over him.
“We’re not dating.”
“Yeah. We kissed once. It was weird,” Lucas finished for him. “I mean, I did have a crush on him, and he kind of broke my heart—”
“You seriously don’t need to tell the evil health inspector my deep, dark, terrible secrets,” Gage said.
Frankie hesitated. How were these two not in love?
“Anyway,” Lucas said quickly, “he’s my best friend, and he basically lives up my ass because he can’t function properly unless he’s annoying someone, and that someone is usually me. I love him for it, but we are not in love. Trust me. That would basically be incest.”
“I’m Gage,” the guy said, sticking his hand out the window. Frankie took it and tried not to wince when Gage squeezed. Hard. “Fuck with him again and I’ll kill you. I work for the fire department, and my dad is the chief. I know all the good places to hide bodies. All. Of. Them.”
Frankie cleared his throat loudly. “Sounds terrifying. I will do my best.”
Lucas shoved Gage back. “Will you please go dress your war wounds and leave my non-paying customers alone?”
“I’m going to pay,” Frankie defended.
Lucas scoffed. “Not today, you’re not. Not until you get meat on your bones.”
Frankie wanted to tell him that he couldn’t possibly know how much meat was on his bones. He ate like garbage, but he wasn’t malnourished. But maybe he meant it like a metaphor because he was a sad sack of shit when it came to taking care of himself.
“Can I say some—” He stopped abruptly when he looked up and noticed Lucas had walked over to his grill and was chatting away with Gage while making Frankie’s sandwich.
It was a nice reminder that they weren’t friends. They weren’t even technically neighbors. They shared a building, and while Frankie had fucked up royally with him, Lucas had forgiven him with a plate of cinnamon buns.
But there was nothing else to this.
He shuffled backward, feeling like a total moron, and dug his phone out of his pocket. He hit Fallon’s contact and pressed it to his ear as he waited for the exact three rings before his brother picked up.
“Everything’s fine. The house isn’t on fire. Elodie is napping.”
It was past PT and OT, and she always napped after her mind and body were put through the wringer. “How did she do?”
“She cried a lot at the end,” Fallon said. “Her legs seem a little stiffer.”
Frankie had noticed that too. He thought maybe it was just the seizure activity ramping up, but he had a feeling it wasn’t.
Which meant more doctors. Probably surgery.
Shit he was not looking forward to because taking time off for all of it was killing his ability to pay his bills.
She had state medical care, but that wasn’t going to keep the power on if he had to miss a few weeks of work.
“I’ll try to get through my last restaurant quickly.”
Fallon sighed. “You can take your time. Fenton’s going to come over with pizza.”
Frankie knew he should insist on going home and cooking—or attempt to cook, anyway. But he was tired, and he knew Elodie would be too. “Tell him I’ll Venmo him the cash for it.”
“Stop being weird,” Fallon said. “What has crawled up your ass lately?”
Oh, nothing. Just a big, ugly public shaming. But he wasn’t about to tell his brother that. “I think I’m getting into my feelings. I don’t know. It’s been a lot over the last few months.”
Years, really. But he didn’t need to get specific about it.
“I think Fenton and I can have a sleepover with her this weekend. You can get some rest.”
He wanted to argue, but the very idea of not getting up at the ass-crack of dawn so he could put on Miss Rachel to distract her while he attempted some sort of breakfast made him want to fucking cry.
“Yeah. Let’s see how she feels, but I think that could be good.”
His brothers rarely had time to actually do that for him, but they fit time in with their baby sister as often as they could. And he appreciated them for it.
“You still here?” Lucas asked, sticking his head out the window.
“Yeah, one sec.” Frankie turned his back to the truck, which felt a little ridiculous when he remembered Lucas probably couldn’t see much of him. “I gotta go. I’m grabbing a quick lunch, and then I have to get to my next appointment.”
“I’ll call if anything goes wrong,” Fallon said, then hung up like he always did, without a goodbye.
Shoving his phone into his pocket, Frankie approached the truck and realized that Lucas was alone. “Did your not-boyfriend leave?”
Lucas scoffed. “Yes. He had to get back to the station. And he really isn’t my boyfriend.”
“But you wanted him to be.” Oh my god, why was he still talking? He reached for the sandwich, but as though Lucas could sense the motion, he snagged it back.
“Hang on.”
Suddenly, the window slammed shut, and Frankie blinked in surprise. Was he being denied food now for being a jackass? Except the side door opened a second later, and Lucas appeared, holding the little paper box with his lunch in it.
“Did I slam the door on other customers?” he asked.
Frankie glanced around to be sure. “Uh. Nope. Just me.”
“Great. Lead me to the tables. Pick one with some shade. I can’t afford another sunburn.” Then he held out his hand, and it took Frankie almost too long to realize what he was waiting for.
He shuffled up and tapped Lucas’s palm with the back of his elbow. When his fingers grabbed Frankie, they held him in a strong grip. It felt…good.
Too good.
And wrong. It was very, very wrong.
“Sit on the left,” Frankie said, his voice going a little rough again as he stopped by the table. “Um…it’s right in front of you. Sorry, I’m still learning how to give verbal cues.”
“You’re overthinking it,” Lucas said. He reached for the table, then took the shaded seat and leaned back slightly against the back of the chair. “You need to breathe and stop fixating on whether or not you’re offending me.”
“Am I that obvious?”