Page 119 of The Last One to Let You Down

“Gerald,” Tom replied, gently squeezing Cypress’s shoulder. “I guess somebody in the family hasn’t talked to Fox yet, and they’re still looking for that watch.”

“Hmph.” Cypress began to walk back to the parking lot, looping his arm with Tom’s. “He needs to chill the fuck out.”

“Thanks for coming to my rescue,” Tom teased, hoping to lighten the mood. “I swear Aaron is a good guy, but you know how Gerald is.”

“Oh, fuck yeah, I do.” Cypress suddenly grinned, slyly asking, “So, what’s ‘HFG’?”

“Oh, God.” Tom’s face began to flush.

“That bad, huh?”

“Before I officially knew your name, I may have called you ‘Hot Flower Guy,’” Tom confessed, smothering his face into Cypress’s shoulder.

Cypress laughed, absolutely delighted. “Damn, really? How long were you crushing on me, huh?”

“Oh, probably since the first second I saw you,” Tom said, peeking up at Cypress with a little grin.

“That’s actually adorable.” Cypress chuckled, kissing Tom’s hair and hugging him tight. “Well, this Hot Flower Guy has gotta get back to work.”

“Thanks for chaperoning me.”

“I wasn’t giving you a choice,” Cypress snorted. “Not while that nutcase is running around out there.”

Tom grimaced, realizing he hadn’t thought of a delicate way to tell Cypress he was taking call tonight.

“You’ve got the funniest damn look on your face.” Cypress scowled. “What did you do?”

“Uh…”

“Tom.”

“Okay, so,” Tom began to ramble, “after I fixed Mr. Lundy, I might have been asked if I could cover call for a few hours tonight, and I may have agreed—”

“Tom!” Cypress barked.

“It’s only until nine o’clock so Scott can get some sleep. He was talking about bananas and all this crazy shit because he was up all night—”

“I don’t care if he was talking about playing damn Monopoly with Jesus Christ,” Cypress hissed.

“I’m fuckin’ sorry.” Tom hated to see Cypress so distraught. “Earl was really upset because he couldn’t find anyone, and I felt so bad for Scott—”

“None of that is your damn problem!” Cypress groaned. “This place is literally sucking the life out of you, and you keep running right back to it. What were they gonna do if you hadn’t come in, huh? They would have figured something else out.”

“Maybe!” Tom argued defiantly, faltering when he realized he didn’t have anything else to say.

Nothing helpful, anyway.

“I’m sorry,” Tom tried again. “I wanted to help, and I was going to feel guilty no matter what I did, so I tried to do what I thought was best in the moment. It’s only for a few hours! And hey, I might not even get called in.”

Cypress bared his teeth briefly, leaning against the side of his van. He closed his eyes, and he began to massage his temples.

“What’s wrong?” Tom frowned. “What are you doing?”

“I’m thinking.”

“About?”

“About how I’m going to punish you tonight,” Cypress replied firmly.