Page 16 of Chasing You

“Hey, babe.”

Adele looked up from his drink and saw Frey sliding into the seat beside him. He was dressed in scrubs, his feet in white Crocs, his cheeks mottled pink from the wind. It was storming outside, and a few lingering raindrops were sliding down the end of his nose.

“Did you walk here?”

Frey snorted. “No. Renato dropped me off. He and Rex are having a father-son date, and I’mDad, so I wasn’t invited.”

Adele warmed all over. The adoption wasn’t official—yet. It was complicated, thanks to the fact that Frey’s ex had abandoned his family right after Rex was born, but they were working on it with a friend of Monty’s, and it was looking like right after the new year, Rex would be getting a new official parent.

Not that the paperwork would have mattered. Renato was enamored with his little family. He was still every bit the asshole Frey had once hated, but he was different around them and around their little extended family.

Adele had been wary, but the only thing that really mattered to him was that Frey and Rex were loved beyond all reason. And they were.

Leaning over, Adele kissed his cheek and sighed happily when Frey nestled in. “Thanks. I needed this.”

“I had a feeling,” Frey told him. He dried his face on the side of Adele’s shirt. Luckily, the firefighter T-shirts were black, so it didn’t show. “Are the guys coming?”

Adele shook his head. “Lane’s here, but he’s dealing with a catering crisis. Lucas is in the kitchen, and he’ll probably come say hi in a bit. Everyone else is working except Bowen and Briar, who have the flu.”

Frey grimaced. “Tell me those fuckers got their shots.”

“They did, but Briar tested positive yesterday, so they’re in quarantine.” Adele sipped his drink and tried not to think about his worry that he’d bring something home to Kash, who was in a full-body flare. He could move his jaw enough to eat, but he’d woken up with his arms and legs stiff as a board. He would have been worried, but the muscle relaxers had finally started to do their job a few hours ago.

Still, Adele wouldn’t have come except that Kash had basically kicked him out and said he needed space. Adele didn’t understand until he did. Until he realized that Kashmight have wanted alone time so he could talk to someone who wasn’t Adele.

“There’s that look again. Is it Kash?”

Adele felt sick to his stomach.

“Talk to me, babes.”

Adele groaned, face bowed toward the table. “I think Kash is seeing someone.” Okay, that was maybe a little dramatic and unrealistic, but Kash had been keeping to himself a lot over the last few weeks, and he’d definitely been on a couple of video calls that Adele had done his best not to eavesdrop on.

It was probably doctor stuff, but what if it wasn’t? What if it was a date? What if it was Ridge after all? He wasn’t sure if Ridge would say anything, knowing how Adele felt about Kash, and frankly, he didn’t know how he’d ever be able to be around the two of them if they got together. His heart was already cracked, and that would shatter it into a thousand pieces.

He took a long gulp of his ale, then burped out a long string of hot bubbles, making Frey lean away from him.

“Fuck’s sake, frat boy. What’s going on?”

Adele scrubbed a hand down his face. “I’m in love with Kash.”

“Yeah. We all figured that out years ago. Is that what you’re angsting about?”

“What if he meets someone and has this epic life without me?”

Frey was quiet for a long beat. “Does he know how you feel? Or are you wallowing in silence, hoping one day he’ll notice you’re the man of his dreams?”

“The second one,” Adele said, burping again. He didn’t fight when Frey took his beer away.

“You’re a moron.”

“Yep.”

“You need to tell him.”

“Nope.” He grabbed the basket of fries from the middle of the table now that they weren’t molten hot and shoved three in his mouth. “I’m going to die alone.”

Frey sighed. “Fine. I’m not going to force you to make the intelligent decision, but I will buy you ice cream if you want. But only if you give me a ride home because I’m not taking an Uber in this shit.”

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