Page 9 of Chasing You

“Come by the day after your birthday, and we’ll talk. Though your dad might actually kill me if I let you work at the station. He’s still pissed Kylen lets you fly.”

Lucas huffed. “I thought he’d be less annoying once he got the stick out of his ass and got some dick up there, but?—”

“Bruh! You’re talking to my dad,” Gage protested, looking horrified.

Lucas shrugged. “Your dad, not mine. It’s not weird when I say it to him.”

“He’s practically your dad. And you’re talking about yours and his ass. Weird, okay. Just…weird.”

“Stop being Amish.”

“What does that evenmean?”

Adele clapped his hands for silence. “Boys! Continue this without me. But for what it’s worth, I don’t care what Bronx puts up his ass as long as he’s being safe. You would not believe the calls I’ve gotten over the years when people decided random objects belonged up there.”

Lucas cackled, and Gage paled. “I hate you,” his son moaned.

Adele smiled back sweetly. “You wish you could. Have fun, you two. Hey, write something into your campaign about rescuing a guy who found a phallic-shaped wand and decided to have some fun and failed.”

“Yes!”

“No!”

Adele left them with that and headed down the hall,pausing by Kash’s room. The door was cracked open, which was his usual invite. Taking a breath, Adele pushed inside and found Kash sitting up on his bed with his laptop balanced on his knees.

“You’re going to go broke from his therapy bills,” Kash said.

Adele grinned, even as his breath caught in his chest at the sight of his friend. Kash was so beautiful. He always had been, but he was aging like the finest wine. He had lines on his face that only accentuated his sharp cheekbones and defined jaw. His eyes looked wider, his hair thicker and a little coarser, and his facial hair was a constant five-o’clock shadow.

The only thing Adele hated was the line of tension in his face and the fact that Kash was losing weight. Eating got hard for him sometimes. His dystonia was mostly in his legs and sometimes his hands, but every now and again, his throat didn’t want to work well. He’d lose his ability to speak above a whisper, and he was too afraid to try swallowing.

Adele’s heart sank when he realized that Kash’s left hand was in a tight fist. He walked to the bed and helped himself to the empty space beside Kash, taking his curled fist, and he began to massage the heel of his palm.

“Thank you,” Kash whispered after a long moment of silence.

Adele’s thumbs worked at the impossibly stiff muscle. “How long has it been like this?”

Kash closed his eyes and knocked his head against the headboard. “Since I woke up. My fingers started to release a little while ago, but then I had a full-body spasm, and they tightened back up.”

Adele wanted to kiss his wrist, his knuckles, his jaw, hislips. In another world, he might have. For now, he shifted a little closer and continued rubbing. This didn’t usually work, but Kash was honest when it said it helped his body feel better, and Adele would do this until he collapsed if it meant being able to give his friend some relief.

“How was work, dear?” Kash asked after a long beat of silence.

Adele grinned and laid his head on Kash’s shoulder. “Good. Boring. No calls today. Oh, and Ridge is coming over tomorrow to cook us dinner.”

“Like a date?”

Adele tried to read his tone, but it sounded neutral. Maybe too neutral? Was he hiding something? No, that was wishful thinking. “More like he thinks I’m a pathetic, lonely loser who’s going to be alone when my son moves out of the house, and he wants to make sure I’m being taken care of.”

Kash snorted. “I’ve been on you about that for years.”

“Yes, thank you. You two have a very cool club,” Adele snarked back.

Kash grinned and turned his head, pressing a kiss to Adele’s hair. “That’s sweet of him. Maybe you can save me some leftovers.”

Adele lifted his head. “He’s cookingusdinner, Kash. Me, you, Gage. Please meet him. It’s not a dad thing.”

Kash had been repeatedly invited to dad events, which he’d turned down, stating he wasn’t one. And he fought back every time Adele implied that he was an honorary one for how much Kash had always loved Gage the way a father should. He’d made an appearance at a few of the afternoon lunch events when Adele was barbequing, but nothing more than that.

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