Page 42 of Anything But Convenient

I’d been hiding my relationship for longer than necessary all because the man I cared for couldn’t come out of the closet. And while I wanted to be a selfish bastard, the type that gave him an ultimatum, I couldn’t.

I needed him, or I’d have succumbed to the pressure of this business long ago.

So I took him in tiny doses, keeping myself afloat just enough not to lose my shit on everyone I cared about.

“Let’s go discuss it with the team,” I said when Ronan only stood there huffing and puffing in anger.

Just like I’d done many times before, I’d distract the team until the problems got ironed out. It was the only solution I hadfor now. One day, I’d get the courage to tell them the whole truth.

CHAPTER 16

ARCHIE

Once Tank showedup and Orion vanished, things focused more on the work and less on the team. It was strange to watch them dance around the topics I could sense them all thinking of incessantly.

Avoidance was the name of the game, I guess. And they were all top-level players.

“Do you want to go over a few signs?” I asked Takeshi during a quiet moment when it was obvious we weren’t going to be helpful.

Most of the work was on Memphis’s end since he needed to create the fake children to be sold. Ronan had gone off after Tank to speak about something, which left Godric and Cohen, neither of which were all that talkative. Or rather, they weren’t talkative to me. They seemed to be having their own private conversation at the main table.

Takeshi bobbed his head, then turned our chairs to face one another.

“Ok,” I said with a laugh. “What should we learn first. Oh! I know. Your name. There will be two ways to say it. You can either finger spell it to people or use a name sign. Name signsare only given by people in the deaf community, so we’ll work on finger spelling for now.”

He scrunched his brow, the question of ‘why’ hinting at the surface.

“There are certain pieces of the culture that should stay intact. This is one of them. I would never think of stepping in as someone on the fringe. My only goal is to show people a wider world through communication.”

At my explanation, his frown smoothed out. I then went through the process of explaining each letter of his name to him. It was a tedious experience, despite him picking it up fairly easy.

Right as I was about to praise him for a job well done, Cohen shouted, “Go back a bit. I got lost.”

I turned to see him and Godric attempting to move their hands in the right direction. Takeshi shook his head at them, his smile fond as he waved them over.

Soon, I was surrounded by three large men in rolling chairs waiting for me to teach them sign language. I grinned as I reviewed what Takeshi had mastered so the other two could catch up.

It took a few more minutes, though they caught on fairly quickly too. I then went through a few basics to show them how they’d introduce their name, much like some might say, “hi, my name is” when meeting someone new. I also did ‘thank you’, ‘please’, and ‘nice to meet you’ to give them some variety in the motion.

“How do you say, ‘I love you’ to someone?” Godric asked once I suggested we wrap things up.

I smiled at them, then lifted my hands in the movement. “This is it.”

Cohen giggled. “That’s the sign for rock on. I know that one.”

Shaking my head, I went on to explain. “It’s more than that. It’s the combination of the fingerspelled letters I, L, and Y. It’sa shortened form of I love you that just so happens to mean something different if you don’t know ASL.”

“Ohhhhhh. That’s so cool, and it makes sense,” Cohen agreed. His hand went into the motion, then he waved it in front of Godric. “Look what I can do!”

Godric smiled, then planted a soft kiss on Cohen’s lips. “I’m proud of you. Soon we’ll be the best signing team out there. Might add a new level of awesome to our resume.”

“There are plenty of people out there in the world who would benefit from ASL knowledgeable protection details. I think it’s great you want to learn for your friend.”

“He’d do the same for us,” Cohen said far more seriously than I expected.

Takeshi dipped his head to agree, then tugged me to stand. I laughed, linking our fingers together so he wouldn’t let go.

“This must mean it’s time for us to go.” My joke had the effect of making the others laugh. Meanwhile, Takeshi simply pulled me from the room.

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