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CHAPTER 4

DEAN

The boy was thin. And he thought he could get away with ordering only a side order of toast? Not on my watch.

“We’ll take two Big Daddy breakfast specials with large orange juice and coffee.” I passed the waitress our menus.

“Wait.” Andrew held up his hand as if asking for permission to protest. The waitress stopped, and Andrew lowered his voice. “I don’t have enough to splurge like that.”

“If money was no issue, would you have ordered that or something else?” I looked into his eyes, daring him to lie.

“I would have ordered that and an extra side of bacon, but money is an issue.”

“But it’s not.” Turning to the waitress, I added an extra order of bacon before letting her know we were done ordering.

“Dean, I don’t have the money.” Andrew tried to wave the waitress over, but I shook my head at her, and she carried on to the kitchen.

“You need to eat, and I have the money.”

“You are already helping me by driving. I can’t repay you.”

“Andrew, look at me. There are no strings attached. You need to get to Florida, and I’m heading that way anyway. You need to eat, and I have enough to pay for us both. I can help you. Let me.”

“Thank you.”

“So, why are you heading to Florida?” I’d been dying to ask him the last day we’d been on the road together, but it hadn’t seemed like he was willing to talk about it too deeply. I would keep trying until he was. I felt pulled to make his situation right, whatever situation he was in.

Andrew swallowed a large gulp of water and set the glass down. “The old story of a stupid boy thinking he was in a good solid relationship only to receive a text telling him his boyfriend was no longer his boyfriend, their house was no longer his home, and that he’d better grab all his earthly belongings from the front yard before some random neighbors thought it was out there as freebies at the curb.”

“Seriously?” Anger built in my gut that someone treated this beautiful man this way. “What a douchebag.”

“He definitely is that.” Andrew nodded. “He wasn’t even at the house when he sent the text. He had waited until I left for work, packed his suitcase, and left for a trip with his newest conquest before typing it up and hitting send. The jackass didn’t even have the balls to tell me to my face that he wanted out of our relationship.”

“Then you are better off without him.”

“Maybe. But I am also homeless, jobless, and nearly broke.”

“How did you lose your job?”

“Well, when he messaged me, and I told my boss I had to leave, they refused to let me. I had a choice between losing everything I owned, including the only pictures I had left of my parents, or keeping a dead-end job that barely paid bills. I chose to get the pictures, and they chose to fire me.”

“Assholes.”

“That’s not even the worst thing they had ever done. But it’s okay since I had to find a new place to live anyway, and I could only rely on my distant cousin Meghan in Florida. She also says she can get me a job at the club where she works.”

“You didn’t want to see if your friend Stacy would help you?”

“She’s helped me enough.” Andrew leaned back to allow the waitress to set down our plates of food. “Besides, she has her own life to work out, and I couldn’t put my troubles on her.”

“She probably wouldn’t have seen it as that.” I reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “I wouldn’t have.”

“I know.” Andrew’s lips quirked up in the most adorable way. “But I would have.”

“Okay.” I pulled my hand back and picked up my fork. “Enough talking for now. Let’s dig in before this all gets cold.”

“Good plan. Pancakes are not as yummy cold.” Andrew poured about half the cup of syrup onto his stack. “Want some syrup? It’s warm.”

“Sure.” I took the serving cup and drizzled a small amount on my pancakes. “I like to be able to taste the actual food though.”

“Ha ha.”

Andrew stuffed an overloaded forkful into his mouth and moaned. That beautiful sound sent a signal to another part of my body, and I had to shift my hardness under the table discreetly. Fuck, even simple things like eating with this boy had me growing hard for him. If I ever had a chance to get him into my bed, I wasn’t sure I’d let him leave.