Gabe
Iuse my key to unlock the front entrance of Torren’s auto repair shop, and the harsh overhead lights fill the space when I flip the switch.
As I walk past two cars awaiting inspection, the smell of gasoline and antifreeze pummels my nostrils.
I approach the tool cabinet and retrieve what I need, setting them beside the car I’ll be working on today.
Thank God it’s Monday, and I have work today. I don’t know what I’d do if I had to stay in that trailer with him.
Jason was asleep when I left.
I placed the picture and message I wrote on the kitchen table, where I knew he’d find it, because I couldn’t help myself.
He wants me.
And we both know it.
From the subtle looks he hopes I don’t catch, to the flat-out calling my name when he was watching porn.
Once he caught me, his eyes left the porn entirely. He told me to stay! Stroked himself while he watched me do the same.
He’s still in there—the Jason I loved is there. I just need to reach him somehow.
“What’s up, Baby Gabe?”
Relief floods my system as Torren descends the spiral staircase. When Mom went to prison, I was a fucking mess. She was gone, I was a murderer, and the boy I thought I loved with all my heart hated me.
I’d talked with Torren on the train tracks a couple of times before that, completely in awe of how cool he was. I knew what he did—everyone did.
He was the co-leader of the HellCats with his adoptive brother, Tobias, wore nothing but leather, rode a sick motorcycle, and had jet-black hair that rivaled Elvis’s.
The more we talked, the more I learned how much he hated being in the HellCats. Torren’s not like Tobias, who genuinely scares me.
Torren has a heart. He eventually left the gang and opened up this shop.
When he saw me after it all happened, he took one look at my face and just knew. He didn’t ask, and I wouldn’t say anything, but he knew something had happened.
Broken people can see each other.
That’s probably why he offered me this job. He knew I needed something to hold onto.
Torren approaches and fist bumps me. “Ready for some coffee? Felix is already there.”
Felix is Torren’s boyfriend.
I love Felix.
He’s hilarious, and nobody knows how to handle a tornado like Torren better than Felix does.
I nod, and we hop on his motorcycle to ride across town to Maggie’s Diner.
When we walk in, I see Felix joking around with another server named Gilda.
The jingle of the door grabs his attention, and he looks over and smiles. “Oh, hey, Daddy,” Felix says sweetly while waving. “Hey, Gabe.”
We take a seat at the bar, and Felix leans over the counter and kisses Torren. “You didn’t say goodbye this morning,” Torren scolds.
“You were sleeping so peacefully,” Felix explains. “I didn’t have the heart to wake you.”
Torren traces his thumb over Felix’s lower lip. “Leaving me without even a goodbye? I think that calls for a spanking later.”
Maggie, the owner, struts over with a tray and yells, “Well, do it when lover boy is off the clock. The two of you are a walking peep show.”
Felix laughs while tracing the veins of Torren’s forearms. “I’ll get your stupid donut and black coffee.” He looks at me and asks, “Double chocolate donut, Gabe?”
I shoot him a thumbs-up, and his eyes trail back over to Torren, who stares at Felix hungrily.
Seeing the two of them gives me hope. They’re so in love, and it makes me feel like that kind of love is possible.
Maybe even for a freak who won’t talk.