Fault Lines Box Set

Chapter 3

Chapter 3The car was cold. The rain had returned with a fury, leaving everything miserable and soaked. The wipers barely cleared the windshield before Rory was struggling to see through it again. He jabbed at the button to speed up the swipe, but they were already working at full speed.

It was one-thirty in the morning. He was pretty sure that had given him plenty of time to ensure Gabe was sleeping. Still, it annoyed him that he had to slow down to a crawl when he got close to the driveway because Gabe hadn’t had the consideration to flip on their exterior lights. The lack of streetlights coupled with bad weather made it almost impossible to see. While that was great for sleeping, it was terrible for driving. It was no wonder the car ended up with dents in it.

Frowning, mumbling, Rory pulled into the driveway and turned off the car. Then he paused for a long while, staring at the garage and what could be seen of the yard. Nothing had changed since he’d been gone. Of course. Same place. Same problems. He was thirty-three years old, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was all over for him—that he only had two options. He could sit and deal with the fact this was just how it was going to be, or he could find a nice length of rope and stop thinking altogether.

He sighed as he got out of the car and slammed the door.

* * * *

Rory stared at the carton of eggs that lay on the ground in various degrees of destruction. “Really,” he said and glared at Gabe, “that’s your solution to these keep slipping?”

Gabe glared right back. “They’re traitors. f**k them.”

“They’re eggs!” Rory had to check his voice, struggling to lower it when he got a sideways glance from an older lady hurrying past with her buggy. “They can neither trait nor be trait upon!”

Gabe paused for a second, tilting his head and Rory raised an eyebrow. He knew it wasn’t the right word, but it had sounded good. And Gabe wouldn’t question his use of language. Gabe hadn’t exactly been student of the year.

Frustrated, Gabe began to throw bags of groceries into the back of the car. “Well, it’s your own damn fault! Two guys don’t need three hundred dollars’ worth of groceries! Why can’t you just get a few things every couple of days instead of doing this s**t?” He held up a box of instant oatmeal that had slipped out of the over-packed bag. “And this? Why do we need this? Nobody needs instant f*****g oatmeal, Rory! Nobody!”

“We do this s**t,” Rory hissed, “because we live in the middle of goddamn nowhere and the grocery store is thirty-five minutes away from the house! And we need instant oatmeal because I f*****g like it! Is that all right with you?”

Someone cleared their throat behind them, and Rory spun quickly, embarrassed. Holy s**t…Rory felt heat rise into his neck and a panicked flutter settled into his gut.

Danny looked down at the broken eggs. “Could you gentlemen use a hand?” Danny’s hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail. It gave his features an almost feminine look, lifting his already high cheekbones, slimming an already sleek neck, even his eyes were rimmed with eyeliner. He managed to make the way-too-big grocery store jacket look good, even if it was filthy. Even if the tag on the pocket with the stitched Manager hung at the top left corner like a dog’s ear.

Rory’s panic subsided when he put two and two together and realized that Danny had to work there. “Uh, we’re…just…uh…no. Thanks.” Rory cleared his throat. “Just a bit of an accident.”

Danny nodded and flashed a grin, first to Rory, then to Gabe. “Looks like it. Let me help you get that cleaned up. I think one of them got on your car a bit there.”

Gabe’s gaze appreciatively roamed over Danny. When he spoke, he did it with the low growl that he used when he was trying to impress someone. “You want to do something helpful, then why don’t you get someone out here to clean up these f*****g shopping carts? There’s like, a hundred out here.”

Danny lifted his eyebrows. “Oh?”

“Yeah, oh. Maybe if it wasn’t such a goddamn obstacle course out here, people would be able to get around without dumping half their stuff on the pavement.”

Rory groaned inwardly, but Danny merely nodded. “Yep, you’re right,” He swung his gaze between them. “Listen, if one of you would like to come in with me, I’ll make sure you get a replacement.” He turned back to Gabe. “Just to say sorry for the inconvenience.”

“That’s not necessary—” Rory began but he was cut-off by a glower from Gabe.

“Damn straight.” Gabe tilted his chin towards the store while staring at Rory, not-so-subtly telling him to Go!

Danny stretched out his arm. “After you, sir.”

With the heat in his face growing warmer, Rory walked to the sliding doors. Danny caught up with him a couple of strides later, and they walked into the bright interior together. The second that the doors slid closed behind them, Danny turned to Rory. “Wow,” Danny said, with exaggerated enthusiasm, “he’s awesome!”

Rory passed Danny a sideways glance. “He has his good qualities and his bad.”

“Oh, yeah? He must keep all his good qualities hidden in his pants then.”

Rory couldn’t stop himself from snorting a chuckle. “Some of them.”

They walked through the aisles together until they reached the refrigerated shelves at the back of the store. Danny grabbed a dozen eggs and handed them over. “Here you go.”

“You don’t have to do this. I can pay for eggs.” Rory was embarrassed—about the eggs, about Gabe, but more than anything he was embarrassed about seeing Danny again. Why that was, Rory wasn’t sure. After all, they hadn’t really done anything except fool around. Still…

Danny grinned. “It’s not like it’s coming out of my pocket, Rory. Eggs break all the time. Take them.”

God, just look at him, Rory thought, doing his best to keep his attention on the eggs and not get lost in Danny’s expression. The smile, the hair, those perfect eyes; the kid was so hot it made him grit his teeth. Even as he took the carton being handed to him, Rory wanted Danny to reach out and stroke his arm like Danny had done the night they met. He threw a quick glance over his shoulder, making sure the way was clear, then looked back at Danny. “Listen,” he said, lowering his voice. “I hope everything’s okay between us…”

Danny curled his lip in mock disgust. “Ewww.”

Rory frowned. “Ew, what?”

“Ewww,” Danny repeated, “as in, ew, you’re not going to be that guy, are you?”

“Which guy?” Rory tried unsuccessfully not to sound offended. “You mean the guy who apologizes for skulking out in the middle of the night?”

“Yep. That’s the one.”

“I guess I am.”

“Well don’t. I get it, really. You said you had a partner. I believe you said it a few times, in fact. It’s all right. We’re cool.” Danny paused. “But, you know, I understand why now.”

Rory frowned. “You understand why what?”

Danny shrugged as if what he was about to say was the most obvious thing in the world. “Why you can’t write.”

There was a long pause while Rory looked at the floor. Overhead fluorescent lights shone on worn tile and Rory was sure it was the glare that was causing his eyes to twitch.

Danny tapped the eggs. “You better go. Before big, bad, and muscley gets miserable.”

Rory walked out of the store with the eggs held almost reverently in his hands. It was the smallest gesture in the world, but to him, it felt like one of the kindest. It was certainly one of the kindest he’d seen in a while. That feeling, coupled with the kid’s obvious refusal to make a scene or breathe a word of what had happened, confused him. People weren’t nice for no reason.

Were they?

“Took you long enough,” Gabe huffed as Rory climbed into the passenger seat of the car.

“Sorry.” There was a million things Rory could have said. But he wasn’t in the mood to keep arguing.

“Hey.” Gabe waited until Rory looked over, then wiggled his eyebrows. “What did you think of the twink? Kind of hot, eh?”

Rory shook his head, eyes fixed through the windshield. “That’s kind of disrespectful, don’t you think? I mean, you don’t even know him.” Gabe rolled his eyes and started the car. “Besides,” Rory continued, “I’m sure he has no interest in old men like us.”

“Ha!” Gabe laughed, pulling out of the parking space. “Maybe not you.” He stopped the car to turn Rory’s face towards him. He pressed a kiss against Rory’s forehead, then smirked. “But have you seen me?”