Chapter 33
Chapter thirty-three
Gavin
Gavin was pissed. Royally.
He stomped around his hotel room. It wasn’t nearly as nice as what he would have booked if Johnny were with him or if he were staying longer. But in Indianapolis, did it matter? What did location matter? He could have been in Timbuctoo for all the distance between him and Johnny.
Gavin would drop everything and go to Johnny. Still, he had called Pilot. Gavin got it. He wasn’t there, not close enough to help with the immediate need, but that was the problem. He wanted Johnny with him or at his house. He couldn’t make Johnny do what he wanted, though.
He was also angry at Johnny’s father. George Killebrew. Johnny said they’d taken him to jail, but Gavin wanted to make sure he stayed there. He picked up his phone and called Johnny again.
“Gavin.” He sounded frustrated, and Gavin couldn’t blame him.
“I’ve been thinking—”
“Of course you have.”
Gavin ignored Johnny’s interruption. “I can hire a lawyer to help you. Get a restraining order, make sure your father stays behind bars. Anything—”
“I don’t think so.”
“What? Johnny, why? I have the resources. I can help.”
“It doesn’t matter. Things will work out, and I’m not concerned about it. I don’t need a restraining order.”
“What?” Gavin yelled. He was losing his temper. Johnny wasn’t listening, wasn’t being rational. “You damn well do need a restraining order.”
“I’m done with this conversation.” Johnny hung up the phone.
The conversation hadn’t gone well. It hadn’t been an actual conversation, though.
Gavin had yelled at him. He knew that wasn’t cool or productive.
He called back, but it went straight to voice mail.
He sent a text as well, trying to apologize, but Johnny didn’t respond. He was going to shut Gavin out now.
And he was still at Pilot’s house.
Gavin wanted to get on a plane and rush in to save the day. He’d always thought of himself as a man of action, and sitting back and waiting for Johnny to come around? No, he didn’t think he could do that. He’d tried that, and it hadn’t worked at all.
He didn’t like Johnny being at Pilot’s house. He didn’t like Johnny calling Pilot every time something went wrong. Gavin had to stop that. He wanted to deal with it head-on.
Gavin sat down on the bed and clasped his hand.
He fucking worked hard. He worked all the time.
He traveled a lot. He loved his job. His career defined a big piece of Gavin’s self-image, but he needed to put Johnny first. He didn’t always know how to balance his career with Johnny’s needs.
That was exactly what Johnny had been saying from the beginning.
How could they make it work when Gavin’s life was everywhere but with Johnny?
It tore him up inside. His instincts wanted to fix the problem, but storming Johnny’s castle would make it worse. He had no idea what to do.
There was nothing he could do.
He packed up the key to the cock cage and got it ready to express ship to Pilot’s house. He put a note with it, saying he hoped to see Johnny Saturday at the race. He’d drop it at the shipping store on the way to the track.