Page 109 of Something Like Hail
“I don’t know,” Marcellosaid, jabbing a finger at him. “But you had better figure itout!”
“Great,” Noah breathedwhile watching his boss storm out of the room. “Not only am I anescort, but now I get to be Tim’s babysitter too.”
Chapter Fifteen
Noah kept looking at the phone on the seatnext to him. He would touch the screen to activate it, see thetime, and cuss under his breath. For once he was glad the truckdidn’t have a modern stereo with a digital display. Otherwise hewould have stared at the minutes slipping away until he drovestraight off the road.
He was late. Just fifteen minutes so far.Noah had already sent an apologetic text saying he was on his way,but he worried that Felix would think he wasn’t important. Orneeded or desired. The kid was a sweetheart, but he wasn’t veryconfident. As for Noah’s stupid client, why had he chosen thisnight? The guy had always invited him in, blown Noah, and shown himto the door. Every single time! Except tonight, when he had askedif they could cuddle afterwards. Then his client had moaned abouthow he was scared to find love and always sabotaged himself. Noahhad heard that story plenty of times before, and ever sinceHarold’s version of it, he struggled to muster any sympathy. Hepictured someone standing at a window, faced with a street filledwith drive-thrus, restaurants, and even food trucks. The person atthe window? They stood there moaning about how hungry they were.Well, get out there and fucking eat! Either that or stopcomplaining about having an empty belly.
Noah noticed white knuckles on the steeringwheel and forced his hand to unclench. He took a deep breath whilewaiting at an intersection, not even honking when the driver aheadof him needed extra time to look up from their phone and noticethat the light had changed. Almost there. He just didn’t want tolet Felix down. Noah wished he had time to go home and shower.Worried that he smelled like another man, he stopped by a gasstation restroom to brush his teeth and wash his face. A kit ofessential toiletries was kept in the truck’s glovebox, since henever knew when he might be asked to stay overnight with a client.He even had a little sample tube of cologne that he sprayed on, andwhile this made him feel better, he remained uneasy as he continuedhis drive. In the future, he’d make sure this didn’t happen again.Going straight from a client to the guy he was dating didn’t sitright with him.
When his truck rumbled up to the apartmentcomplex, Noah was twenty-seven minutes late. He was just about toget out when he saw a slight figure appear out of a glowingrectangle of light and stomp toward him. Noah remained in thedriver’s seat, watching to see if the expression matched the tensebody language. When Felix passed beneath one of the parking lot’sorange lights, Noah had his confirmation. Even with the shadowscast by the baseball cap that Felix wore, he clearly wasn’t happy.At least he went to the passenger door and climbed in. That wasbetter than him coming to the window and telling Noah to goaway.
“Sorry—” hebegan.
Felix cut him off. “Let’s get out of here.I’m so sick of my family!”
Noah didn’t reach for the ignition. “You’renot angry at me?”
“I wish you had gotten heresooner,” Felix said tersely. Then his shoulders slumped. “But onlybecause I needed rescuing.”
“So you’re happy to seeme,” Noah said, leaning over.
The grumpy expression melted away, thosedark eyes darting over to him bashfully. “Very.”
“Good.” Noah stretchedfarther and stole a kiss. His forehead bumped against the brim ofthe baseball cap. “What’s with the hat? It’s cute on you, but… I’mgoing to need to see your ID again.”
Felix blushed. “My sisteralways says this hat makes me look like Short Round fromThe Temple of Doom. Everseen it?”
“The Indiana Jones flick?”Noah nodded. “Yeah.” He had watched the entire series at a friend’shouse in secrecy, since his parents would never have approved ofsuch movies. “Short Round was the little kid, right? You don’tlookthatyoung!”
“I hope not!”
“And you’re way cuter.”Noah was leaning in for another kiss when he noticed somethingelse. The sideburns poking out from the hat weren’t as dark asbefore. “Did you—”
“Oh god!” Felix said,attention on the parking lot. “Here comes my sister. Let’sgo!”
Noah shrugged and did as requested. Hewaited until they were safely away from the apartment complexbefore he asked his next question. “I thought you and your sisterwere close?”
“We are,” Felix said with asigh. “A little too close.” They rode in silence before heexpounded on this. “All I suggested to her is that we go back tosharing a room. We could figure out a schedule for private hours,or we could set up a divider. I know that sounds lame, but I wantmy mom to have her own room again.”
“Very noble of you,” Noahsaid while nodding. “And I agree. I take it your sisterdoesn’t?”
“She doesn’t want to be ina room with all my junk. I told her I could get a storage unit orsell some of it on eBay. I need to downsize, I know, but she also—Never mind.”
“Oh, okay,” Noah saidcasually. “We can end the conversation there. I’m not dying ofcuriosity or anything. I’m perfectly fine with the cliffhangerending.”
Felix laughed. “I hate it when people dothat too. I just didn’t want to hurt your feelings, because itreally has nothing to do with you. Mostly.”
“I’m all ears,” Noahsaid.
Felix grinned. “Actually, I’m the one who’sall ears.”
Noah was tempted to pull over, just to kisshim again. Why not? He gave in to the urge, not explaining hisactions and refusing to stop, even when Felix was laughing too hardto kiss him back properly. Eventually he was pushed away, Felix’shat askew.
“Would you justdrive?”
“I don’t know where I’mgoing,” Noah responded. “Although I’m getting more ideas by thesecond.”