Page 80 of Stable Hand

I was transfixed by the ridiculous briefs. “What the fuck are you wearing?”

“What Kamal put me in at six this morning.” Luke glanced down at his shorts. “Guy has a fruit fetish or something. You should see my ass. He paddled me so hard I can barely sit.”

“You’re sitting now.”

“Yeah, and it’s killing me, so thanks.”

“You can leave,” I said although something inside me had burst into life when Luke had appeared.

“Not gonna happen. Not unless you come back.”

I sighed, turning off the ignition so I wouldn’t pollute the atmosphere while I talked some sense to Luke. Some part of me thrilled to his presence, but the feeling came too late. I’d made my decision.

“I’m not coming back,” I said, trying to be firm and soft all at once.

Luke shook his head and gave me a questioning look. “Why?”

“Because I have to leave.” I couldn’t put the fact of my departure more plainly.

“Why?”

Luke’s obstinacy began to piss me off. I pulled my right hand off the steering wheel, then slammed my palm back down, making a satisfying thunk. “Because I don’t fit in here.”

“Bull. Shit,” Luke said, narrowing his eyes. “You’re fucking terrified of how well you do fit in here.”

I stared straight ahead, at the big house full of clean offices and handsome, intelligent Adam and, somewhere, stern Kamal, waiting for Luke to return to his punishment. “No, I’m not. That’s not—”

Luke shrugged. He looked away and started playing with the scratched and broken door on the glove compartment. “Adam said you punched Callum in the face.”

“Yeah.”

Luke laughed, a genuine, amused sound making me feel somewhat vindicated. “I don’t see any problem. I see Callum getting what he fucking deserved. Maybe he won’t be such a douche now—if they don’t kick him out.”

“They’re kicking him out?” I said, startled at this new information. I turned to face Luke, and he met my gaze with a serious expression.

“Adam’s not sure how to deal with him,” he said.

Wow. I had not anticipated my actions would have caused this much trouble. “Shit! I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. They don’t need to kick him out if I’m leaving.”

Luke gave me a scornful look. “Oh? So, he can keep being an asshole to Noah and the others? Nice of you.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“You’ve got to be pretty self-centred to believe all of this is because of you.”

“I’m not self-centred!” I mean, I didn’t think I was self-centred. But maybe blaming myself for everything was a little narcissistic.

“Oh no? Did you ever think maybe Callum is an ass hat?” Luke said with total seriousness.

“Well…yeah.”

He turned back to examining the broken glove compartment door. “And maybe I’m a fucking lunatic who can’t do anything right? Including showing the guy I like he’s more than a hot piece of ass to me?”

I stared at Luke’s profile, noticing the telltale blush on his smooth-shaven cheeks, not sure I had actually processed his words correctly. Not daring to hope they were true.

“What?”

Luke gave a silent chuckle, then glanced my way with suddenly shy eyes. “Do I need to lay my feelings out for you? I like you, okay? I really fucking like you, Jensen, but the only way I’ve been able to show you is by…being physical…y’know? Very stupid and immature, I know. But you need to know there’s more, at least on my side. In case that changes your mind about leaving, or anything. Which it probably doesn’t.”