Page 26 of Sean's Sunshine
“I’m just saying—don’t leave unless he kicks you out. I think you’re good for him.”
“I can pay a little rent,” Billy said.
Jackson shrugged. “That’s between you two. I just….” He blew out a breath. “Don’t mind me. Ellery fusses over me, I fuss over all our people. It’s a thing. And trust me, I used to hate the guy in the next room. The fact that he’s one of us now means he’s stubborn as fuck.”
Billy frowned, feeling protective. “Why’d you hate him?”
Jackson let out a low chuckle. “Well, for a while, he was crushing on Ellery. That was no way to start a friendship.”
A stab of jealousy so powerful it took his breath away pummeled through Billy’s chest, and for a moment, he knew how Sean felt, perpetually unable to breathe.
“How… how’d you get over that?” Billy asked, hoping his voice didn’t crack.
“He got over Ellery,” Jackson said with a shrug. “And he got over himself. Once he realized that the cops weren’t always right and they didn’t always look into the heart of things, he started working to be one of the cops thatdidlook into the heart of things, and we started working together. And while that happened, I guess he realized that Ellery’s really only got one blind spot.” Jackson raised his hand guiltily. “Sean’s a smart kid. He knew when to cut and run. I wish he hadn’t run right into the fucking fireman who ripped his heart out in a hospital, but see, that was the rebound guy there, so his heart’s free and clear.”
“It’s funny you think of him as a kid,” Billy said. “He’s almost exactly your age.”
Jackson’s expression grew sober. “He’s new to the kinds of things you and I know, Billy. And he’s mad at himself for all the judging he did beforehand. What he said tonight about how you’re all more than porn? It’s true, but it’s something he wouldn’t have acknowledged last year.”
Billy nodded. “Lucky me, I got the woke cop.”
“Yeah, you do.” Jackson grinned but oddly enough sobered again. “And your woke cop is getting bored, but I think I’ve got a solution for that if you’re game.”
Billy blinked, suddenlysoready to do something besides…dwellon the man sleeping in the next room.
“I got no plans,” he said, shrugging, throwing his homework to the four winds. He could wake up early and do that shit. Tonight he had people in the house proposing some sort of game, and he was all for that.
Anything to not think about how all Sean had wanted was that kiss on the temple and how easy it had been to give him one, like it was as natural as breathing.
Nose Poking
WHEN SEANwoke up from his nap, the living room was clear, and Billy had cleaned up most of the debris, including spraying down the coffee table with cleaner. Sean had never had to tell him how to do these things. He wasn’t sure if Henry had trained him or his mother had, but he was very adept at keeping a house from falling apart.
Or a house’s occupant, who’d gotten a little bit overtired and overemotional—Sean could admit that.
“Everybody left?” He yawned as Billy came down the hall to make sure he could walk by himself. “I’m fine. Seriously—unless I overdo it, I can make it around the house.”
“I had to carry you to bed, papi. Don’t get too excited about yourself.”
Sean grunted. “Glad you’re here to keep me humble. You didn’t answer my question.”
“Come sit in the recliner. How full are you from pizza in the afternoon?”
Sean grimaced. “Full enough to only want salad in the evening, why?”
“’Cause I had Randy go get me a watermelon to slice up. It’s in cubes in the fridge, all chilling and stuff. Sit in the recliner, and we can have some of that in the evening. It’s good.”
Sean smiled a little, bemused. “I’ve never had watermelon for dinner,” he said, thinking that if it didn’t have a protein, a carb, and a green on it—or be a casserole that combined all three—his mother would have bled out her eyeballs before serving it as a complete meal.
“You’ve been missing out,” Billy said, sounding sincere. “I feel like I should make some popcorn to go with it. In the summer when the air conditioning sucked and my mom didn’t want to cook, popcorn and watermelon was practically a food group.”
Sean laughed. “Maybe just watermelon tonight,” he said. “But we can try it next summer.”
For a moment, he panicked. He’d said “next summer,” but… but who would they be to each other next summer? He’d been tempted to ask Billy if he wanted to keep rooming at the duplex—he seemed to enjoy the peace and quiet if nothing else—but would Billy go for that? Would his sometimes-prickly pride call a kibosh on it? What if he wanted to bring other men there?
Sean’s eyes went wide. Oh dear Lord. Billy’s side job was awful enough to contemplate. What if…?
But Billy simply shrugged and nodded like it was a real possibility, and a little voice in Sean’s brain said,Do you really not want to see him again, even if he’s with someone? Do you never want to have a long talk with him, seeing those cynical eyes soften in the lamplight? Do you not want to hear him give you hell about being a stubborn asshole? This thing we have, whatever it is, if it’s got legs, it’ll see us through popcorn and watermelon, right?