Page 38 of Grind
“I… Maybe I just got into the habit of saving every penny. A few years ago, my sister was diagnosed with cancer. We hadn’t been on speaking terms for years, but she had no one else to reach out to, so she asked me for help. Her treatment was very expensive, and it all had to come out of pocket. I took in her nephew as well, and he needed shit. At that point, spending on any frivolities just wasn’t as important. It didn’t save her in the end, but it did give her more time. And once I got the business running at full speed, I didn’t see a reason to slow down, just in case. So yeah, the house is what it is, I don’t have time to cook, and prefer to get stuff that won’t easily spoil.”
Ezra was speechless. How was this guy single? With a body like his and a gentle personality, he should have plenty of takers for what he was offering, even for free.
He put his hand on Frank’s forearm, his gaze on the uneven road as the truck waddled through potholes. There was a strange weight in his chest now, and he wasn’t sure how to get rid of it. “I’m sorry. About your sister. You did all you could.”
Frank had told him bits from his life, but Ezra was realizing he’d barely scratched the surface. There was so much he still didn’t know about Frank, and right now, all the things left unsaid were a void in need of filling.
“You were my first indulgence since her illness. Something just for me.” He smiled in a way that made Ezra regret they’d arrived at Frank’s house and he had to park. He stopped the vehicle to its usual spot without thinking, and his skin broke out in gooseflesh as he moved his fingers down to Frank’s hand, playing with the hair growing on the back of it.
“I might like luxurious things, but I don’t need tobea luxury.”
Frank chuckled and shook his head, then pulled Ezra’s hand up to his lips and kissed his knuckles. “You deserved everything, because the time with you was priceless.”
Ezra’s heart made a funny little twitch, and he might have gasped when Frank’s scruff scraped his fingers in such contrast to the gentle way his lips caressed the skin. He still remembered the rush of being fucked by Frank when they both believed it to be the last time. Now the insistent emotions he’d felt that night rushed right back, making him lean closer until—
Unaware of the turmoil in Ezra’s heart, Frank opened the car door and jumped out.
Ezra wanted to scream in frustration.
“I’ll get your stuff,” Frank said, as if they hadn’t just spoken about stuff that should have shaken things up. He took the bags off the truck bed and waltzed right into the house, leaving Ezra on his own.
Fuck.
Ezra’s hands smacked the sides of the steering wheel so hard pain traveled up his arms. He hated the way Frank acted as if he was no longer interested. It made Ezra feel as though he was the chaser, and that wasnothis job!
He got out of the truck and followed Frank inside, braced for a fight. He could not let this insanity continue. It wasn’t like they hadn’t fucked an innumerable amount of times before, so why the stalling?
“Thanks,” he said, his gaze stuck to Frank’s broad back and tanned nape. Oh, it looked hot enough to fry eggs on. “I should return the favor. How about that massage I offered earlier? Clearly, someone needs to take care ofyouwhen you take care of so many people.”
Frank turned to him and squinted. He was considering it. Good. Maybe they could finally—
“Maybe tomorrow. I’ve got some stuff to do with the… thing. It’s too convoluted to explain. But make sure to make that list.”
Whatthing? Ezra was the only thing Frank should care about anddo!
“It doesn’t have to take long,” Ezra said, knowing that his hands were magic no man could resist, but Frank shook his head.
“No, I gotta go now. Maybe watch a show you missed,” he said, pointing at the TV.
Fury simmered under Ezras’s skin, but he took a deep breath to keep his composure. “Are you seriously walking out now?”
He was offering himself on a platter. He’d gone bare with the man, for fuck’s sake, without being pestered for it or tricked. Howdarehe resist?
Frank shook his head, already on his way to the door. “I don’t have time for this now. Just chill and enjoy the evening.”
Ezra sucked in air, but Frank disappeared before he could have spoken. A scream rose inside him, but Frank was close enough to hear it, so Ezra grabbed a cushion from the sofa and shouted his rage into it, because this man did not deserve to find out how much he’d gotten under Ezra’s skin. If he did, he’d have the upper hand, and that would have beenunacceptable.
Chapter 13
Frank
Frankdidn’thaveanything. The onlythinghe had was avoiding Ezra, because if he didn’t, they’d end up in some kind of messy situation, and the last thing Frank wanted was drama.
On a scale of one to ten, his levels of pain due to blue balls were a solid eight. After all, he wasn’t being flayed, and his dick wasn’t getting dipped in dry ice.
He did get some energy out of his system by smashing a sledgehammer through the walls of an old shed.
After hours of work and victimless violence, the job was done. He could go home with a sense of accomplishment, and the hope that Ezra was asleep by now. He hadn’t meant to throw up his life story on the boy back in the car, but he rarely had people ask him about the kind of things Ezra did, so it had just come out.