Page 9 of The Keeper

Rueben peeked around Seth’s body. “Again, you mean.” Kerry’s crew had been the ones to climb down the hillside to rescue Seth and Rueben.

Kerry winked and earned a growl from Seth. “Wrap it up, and I don’t mean the fun kind.”

“Isn’t that bag it up?” Rueben asked.

Kerry dialed up his smile another megawatt until it nearly hurt to look at him. “I like him.”

Seth answered with another growl.

Hands up in surrender, Kerry said, “I know the score, but you better get going if you don’t want others to figure it out.”

Seth turned his back to Kerry and searched for the right words to set Rueben free without hurting him.

“Don’t.” Vehemence hardened Rueben’s tone. “You wanted to apologize and clear the air, and you have. That’s enough for right now.” He stood up on his tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss to Seth’s lips before moving to his ear. “Dream of me.” That was a fucking guarantee, and Rueben’s smile said he knew it. “And be safe.”

“You too.” Seth forced himself to step away, and Rueben slid past him.

“Later, Kerry.”

Unfortunately, his cousin didn’t follow Rueben out the door. Seth turned and met Kerry’s gaze. There wasn’t an ounce of judgment in those dark eyes, only mischief.

“Find a way,” Kerry said.

This coming from the person who always got Seth in trouble. He’d gotten injured and grounded more times than he could remember because of the doofus challenging him with an arched brow. But Kerry was also the one person who always had his back, and he’d patiently listened to Seth pine over pints of beer. His cousin looked as eager and hopeful as Seth felt, and he lacked the—what had Rueben called it? Emotional spoons. Seth lacked the emotional spoons to convince Kerry and himself that he didn’t crave a future with Rueben. He just wanted to go home and eat his food and relive that kiss, preferably with his hand wrapped around his dick.

“And maybe go out the side door so you don’t scare anyone off with that.” Kerry gestured to the erection straining against Seth’s jeans.

He flipped his cousin off, snatched his food, and followed Kerry’s advice to exit the side door. Energy pulsed through him, adding an extra spring in his step that had been missing for some time. He no longer thought about the shadows and who might be lurking there, even though the area behind the restaurant was pitch black. Seth’s mind was too busy contemplating the other part to Kerry’s advice. Did he dare find a way?

What was one supposed to do when their weekly yoga session didn’t restore a peaceful balance to their nervous system? Rueben’s body felt amazing—limber and strong—but his encounter with Seth the previous evening had really put him through the wringer. First and foremost on his mind had been finding relief from the sexual tension gripping his body, which he rectified embarrassingly fast when he got home. Once the post-climax haze cleared from his brain, Rueben thought about the other pieces of their conversation. He hadn’t lingered on the part where they’d each thought the other had moved on so easily. When the truth came to light, Seth’s tone and words struck notes of conciliation and concession, but the heat in his gaze was pure jealousy and yearning. Rueben was sure Seth noticed a similar possessiveness in his words and gestures. They’d quickly cleared up their misunderstanding, but it had led to a conversation that sucker punched Rueben. There were many, many things he wanted to share in common with Seth, but losing loved ones to violent deaths and never getting justice for them was not one of them.

Rueben had been ten years old when he lost his mom and sister to stray bullets from rival gangs in Los Angeles, who’d opened fire on one another without an ounce of concern for the innocent people around them. Rosa Sanchez had been a hardworking single mom who juggled three jobs to make sure her kids had the best life she could give them. His abuela helped out a lot, but his mama never stopped moving so she could fulfill her children’s dreams. The days leading up to their deaths were still so vivid in his mind, like movie scenes frozen in time. Rueben had developed a passion for baseball, and his younger sister was obsessed with ballet. Mama had signed Rueben up for his first baseball team and enrolled Liliana in a dance class for her seventh birthday. She wore her pink leotard and tutu every day for a week leading up to her first lesson, spinning around the house like a tiny Tasmanian devil. Mama and Lili were killed on their way to her first ballet class. Rueben had been so angry about many things, but Lili missing the opportunity to dance with her instructor had cut him to the bone. Abuela had told him Lili danced in heaven with the best instructors and a bigger audience, but it didn’t console Rueben the way she’d hoped. He’d become an unruly, angry teenager who made one bad decision after another. Oddly, Rueben didn’t learn how to manage his emotions until he landed in jail with a cellmate who’d discovered Buddhism. Rueben learned the basics of the practice from him, then expanded on the teachings with Hope after moving to Redemption Ridge. Meditation and yoga usually worked wonders for him, but his heart felt as heavy as a brick, and his frazzled nerves left him edgy.

“Rue?” Keegan’s questioning tone betrayed his concern.

He forced himself to meet those familiar hazel eyes. “Hmmm?”

“I asked if you wanted to grab lunch at the diner or maybe head over to Colorado Springs to try something different.”

Rueben loved the diner, but it would be hard to get a table at the height of tourist season. He looked across the street, and his gaze landed on the salon a few doors down from the restaurant. Rueben recalled the conversation they’d had the previous day about highlights and boy bands, and he met Keegan’s gaze once more with a smile. “Let’s swing by the salon first. They’re probably booked solid today, but I can schedule an appointment for my hair transformation.”

Keegan ran a hand through his shaggy blond bangs. His hair had grown out so much from the buzz cut he’d received at the cult’s compound. “Let’s do it. I could use a makeover too.”

Rueben hooked his arm through Keegan’s, and they headed across the street to the salon. Cool air kissed his cheeks when they entered the business, and he sighed happily. A strong floral scent tickled his nose, and he inspected his surroundings. Fresh-cut flowers in glass vases and baskets of mixed arrangements filled the reception area, and not the usual amount one would use to class up a joint. Most of the vases and baskets included those clear cardholders with a florist’s card, but some had a homier feel and were presented in more rustic vessels. Was it someone’s birthday?

“Can I help you?” The young woman behind the reception counter had fuchsia hair and gray eyes almost as pretty as Seth’s.

Rueben smiled and walked toward her with Keegan in tow. “We would like to schedule hair transformations, please.”

“Oh, that sounds fun.” She jiggled her computer mouse and looked at the screen. “Have you been to our salon before?”

Reuben’s normal haunt was the barbershop on the other side of town, and Keegan hadn’t let anyone near him with scissors or a razor since escaping hell. It might’ve seemed like an odd time and place for his hashtag-team-Keegan pride to resurge, but the swelling emotion temporarily stole his voice.

“This is our first time,” Keegan said without the slightest hint of innuendo.

“So please be easy with us.” Rueben’s remark dripped with suggestion because he was an unrepentant, shameless flirt.

She snorted, introduced herself as Carlie, then asked what they had in mind for their hair.

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