Chapter 21
Chapter twenty-one
After Christmas, Denver
Pilot pushed open the door to Trident Security and strode in like he already owned the place.
He was on top of the world with Tate living with him.
He hated going in to the office, just because he didn’t want to leave Tate for a second, but that was ridiculous.
He would just be happy that Tate would still be there when he returned home.
“Hey, bro!” Johnny called out walking in from the back office. “Wanna do lunch after your meeting?”
“Uh...no. Can’t. Maybe later in the week.” He hadn’t told anyone yet about Tate not going back to New York.
“Why the hell not? What do you got going on?” The disappointment was plain on Johnny’s face.
“Uh...it’s just...Tate.”
“What you have a phone sex date or something?” He held his hands up, fluttering the reports he had in his hands.
“No, uh...he’s still here. He’s, uh, we’re...kind of going to try living together.”
All kinds of emotions flashed over Johnny’s face, but they ended with anger. “You’re fucking crazy.”
“Come on, J-man. I thought you’d be happy for me.”
“Happy? Happy? What the fuck man. I thought—” Johnny pursed his lips together.
“Thought what? I mean I know I said he was going back to New York, or whatever, but he found a track close enough to practice from here. His trainer agreed to come too. And, I want him to stay. I’m happy.”
“There’s that word again.”
“Johnny?”
“Nah. Forget it. I’m being stupid.” He smashed his reports into Pilot’s chest, wrinkling them, but he let go of them, forcing Pilot to catch them. “Here’s your latest statements. Call me when you’re ready to grow up.” He turned and started walking off.
“Hey, wasn’t it you that said this dream wasn’t worth anything if we didn’t have someone to share it with?”
Johnny stopped and turned around. “I didn’t mean for you to take your hookup seriously. And what the fuck? How’s he going to train with all the fucking snow? Huh? Don’t they freakin’ train in Florida? And they’re on the road constantly when they’re not training...you were last year—”
“And will be this year, too. Seriously, Johnny. Tate and I will be together more than not.”
“Like I said. Whatever.” He walked off again, and Pilot called after him, but he threw a hand in the air and kept going.
“Sean?” His uncle stepped out of his office.
“Yeah. What’s up?”
“I don’t know what all that was about, but I don’t like y’all fighting.”
“Yeah. Uh, he’s pissed because I asked Tate to move in with me.”
“Huh. Yeah. Well, maybe you just surprised him. I’m surprised.”
Pilot held his hands up.
“Okay. We’ll, deal with that later. First things first. I got the charges from your fighting escapades dropped, but you cannot do this shit again. No more street fights.”
“Yes, sir.” Pilot hadn’t even thought about fighting since Tate had shown up in his life. He rubbed his wrist where the bracelet Tate gave him hung. “I’m okay with that.” He’d be okay with anything that kept Tate in his life.
“Really? Because I didn’t think even this arrest would stop this shit.”
“I don’t think Tate would like it.”
His uncle lifted an eyebrow, but didn’t comment. “Okay. Second. I have a couple of small jobs you can help me with the next few weeks until the Supercross shit starts. So, you ready to work?”
“Sure.” What could he say? Uncle Gary came through for him as usual and he needed to be working. It made it a lot easier knowing Tate would be there at the end of the day.