Page 48 of Under Water

I can get out of this hold. It’ll hurt him, but I know I can free myself. The only problem is, I can’t let him provoke me into violence. Not when I’m so close to getting out of this without him having a leg to stand on in court.

So I go still.

“I think we should spend the day talking. Maybe we can spend the night talking. I’ll come with you to pick up Elio after school, and he can hang out with us too. Where I can watch him.”

I hear the threat in his words, and I’m so close to snapping. I don’t know if I can hang on.

I suck in a breath, and then suddenly, the front door opens, and as I blink against the light, I see the one man who has no business being here. One man who shouldn’t know how to get here.

Easton takes a step in and clears his throat. “Want to get your hands the fuck off my boyfriend?”

TEN

EASTON

I’m freshly showered, though my hair still smells like smoke from the last call, and I have my phone resting on my stomach as I wait for Rune to text me back. If he’s going to text me back. I’m trying to keep reasonable expectations about this because we parted ways with the understanding that there were no strings attached.

That what happened between us was a secret.

That he wasn’t ashamed of me or of what we did, but he has no room in his life right now for complicated, and I am a complication.

I woke up this morning to the alarm going off, my hand down my pants, my fingers around my dick. But an emergency call is the quickest way to kill morning wood, so I was able to jump up and grab my gear before we headed out to take care of what ended up being an abandoned trailer on fire.

It didn’t take long, but my adrenaline was on high alert, so I’m still trying to calm down and hope that I have time for a nap.

“Easty!” I turn my head to see Axel walking into the room. “Clock out.”

I blink at him. “Um. Am I being punished?”

“Nope. But you’re about to head into OT, and Rook needs the hours.”

Normally, I’d put up a fight, but this month’s bills are paid, and my savings are looking good, and it’s the first month in a while that I don’t have some fuck-ass car repair bill. So yeah.

Rook can have my hours.

I swing my legs off the couch and stretch my back so deeply my shirt rucks up above my belly button.

“Fuckin’ lewd, man,” he says with a snort.

I scratch the hair on my lower stomach. “You fuckin’ love it.”

He rolls his eyes. “If you’re ever into dudes or polyamory, you make sure you give me and Nadia a call first.”

Right. Dudes. Because Ozzie and North have most definitely figured me out, and now Westin knows the truth. And I do think that Camilo has sussed me out. But not everyone knows I’ve stepped out of the closet.

I suck in a breath, but right then, my phone rings, and my heart leaps in my chest when I see Rune’s name on the screen. “I gotta take this, sorry!”

“Clock out. Don’t fucking forget!” he yells after me.

I race upstairs as I press the phone to my ear and prepare myself to hear Rune’s voice. “Hey! I wasn’t expecting you.”

I’m met with only silence.

“Uh. Rune?”

There’s a crackling noise, then footsteps, and the rustle of clothes that tells me I’m the recipient of a butt-dial. Great.

“Rune!” I shout, hoping he’ll hear me.