Page 33 of Hard Check
“You’ll figure the rest out too.” Carter didn’t look at him when he said it. Just matter-of-fact, already moving on, and Leo sat with it for a second because he didn’t know what else to do.
He showered. Stood under water pressure that was better than his apartment’s, letting the heat work into his shoulders. The bruise from the deer strike had faded to a dull yellow-green across his sternum, almost gone. He pressed his fingers to it out of habit, and the ache was barely there.
He grabbed his bag and walked out of the Icehouse into thin September sun, the parking lot half-empty, the lake visible past the tree line in a flat steel band.
He unlocked the car, sat behind the wheel. He almost didn’t check his phone when it buzzed in the cup holder. His mom was being a pain in his ass, still demanding he pressure Phil to get him traded again. He was glad he’d checked.
Dawson
Have a good practice?
It didn’t matter that Dawson had completely ignored what Leo’d said. The fact he texted for something as mundane as checking in felt like progress.
Better now
As Leo pulled out of his parking spot, he decided that he’d play the long game for a change. Take things at a glacial pace if that’s what Dawson needed because it was time someone prove to Dawson that he deserved to be happy.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The alternator on the Dodge Grand Caravan was fighting him, and it was winning. He’d been scatter-brained all week, thinking about how Leo had reacted when he’d told him the kiss shouldn’t have happened. He’d somehow put into words everything Dawson was too scared to even think, and now it was the only thing he could think about.
“You planning to fix that or just admire it?”
Ethan leaned against the fender of the F-250 in the next bay, wiping his hands on a shop rag. Grease on his jaw, ball cap backward, the same look he’d been giving Dawson since they were kids and Dawson had gotten caught doing something stupid.
“Bolt’s seized,” Dawson said.
“Yeah, I can see that from the amount of work you’re putting in.” Ethan tossed the rag at him. “You’ve been spacey all week. You coming down with something?”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. It’s taking you twice as long as normal to do simple jobs and you haven’t given me shit about the music. I even turned on Olivia Rodrigo just to get a rise out of you and you didn’t notice. That’s not normal, bro.”
Dawson put the wrench on the bolt and turned it. The corrosion gave with a crack and his knuckles scraped the bracket. He didn’t flinch, just wiped the blood on his jeans and kept working.
“I said I’m fine,” Dawson repeated through gritted teeth. The alternative was blurting out that he was gay, which would have the intended effect of shutting Ethan up, but not without consequences.
Ethan watched him for another beat, then shrugged and went back to his truck.
Wyatt came through the shop at four-thirty with the parts order clipboard and a look that meant he was done for the day but didn’t want to admit it. He stopped behind Dawson, inspected the alternator work, said nothing, which, from Wyatt, meant it was fine. He set the clipboard on the workbench.
“Becca’s got a doctor’s appointment in the morning. I’ll be in late.”
“We’ll handle it,” Ethan said.
“I know you will.” Wyatt looked at Dawson. “You closing tonight?”
“Yeah.”
Wyatt nodded and left. His truck started in the lot, gravel crunched, and then it was just Dawson, Ethan, and the hum of the compressor cycling off.
If Dawson was going to come out, this would be the time to do it. He worried more about how Wyatt would react than Ethan. The stakes were different with each of them. Ethan wasn’t likely to go off about how gross it was to think about his brother wanting to get dicked hard, but that didn’t mean he’d be okay with Ethan bringing guys home.
He stayed silent because he wasn’t ready for the inevitable follow-up questions.
Dawson finished the alternator, cleaned his tools, and locked up the shop while Ethan headed out. He sat in his truck in the lot and pulled out his phone. He typed before he could talk himself out of it.
You doing anything tonight?
