Page 47 of Of Pranks and Passion

That made me laugh. I pointed that out to my old man once. He was sour about it for days. He did not appreciate being compared to an entertainment company.

“No. He’s more about international trade.”

From the look on Gary’s face, he had no idea what I was talking about. It made me relax and was actually kind of refreshing.

“Anyway. He gave me this place when I moved out. I don’t like taking money from him, I like to earn things myself, but he didn’t know about me until I was thirteen and was trying to make up for lost time. Since it was already paid off, I figured it was easier to give in to him instead of keeping up the argument for who knows how long. He also paid for The Hideout.”

“Wow. You’ve got a nice dad.” He frowned. “Why don’t you want to have his name? He seems really kind.”

“It’s not about him,” I admitted gruffly. “I got lucky when my mom landed in jail that I ended up on his doorstep, but I wasn’t raised like my siblings were. I don’t like being handed things. It feels tainted, like I’m obligated to give something back. It bugs me. And I can’t tell you how many people tried to cozy up to me, either to date me or to be friends with me, just so they could get the benefit of a rich friend.”

Gary’s face twisted in disgust, and I couldn’t stop myself from leaning to kiss him. I pulled back pretty quick, knowing if I let myself get into it, I’d end up hurting him, but he still looked dazed when I pulled away. It took him a few minutes to regroup.

“Okay. I understand your premise. I still think Bronte is a better name than Lector.”

With a chuckle, I pulled him off the bed and nudged him towards the bathroom. “We’ll keep thinking. For now, I need to order breakfast while you take a shower. There’s no food in here.”

“I don’t have anything to change into,” he protested.

“Take what you need from my closet. I’m hungry, Gary! Hurry up!”

That got him moving, though I heard him snickering. He liked to say I had hollow legs because I was constantly hungry. If he worked out as much as I did, he’d be hungry, too. I grabbed my phone off the nightstand after he walked away, pulling up a delivery app, but before I could pick something, my phone rang and Coach’s name popped up.

“Hungry!” I growled as I answered.

“Figured when you didn’t show up for breakfast. I’m heading over with food. And the rest are coming because they’re nosy.”

“No, it’s because we care, asshole!” Angel snapped in the background.

“Yeah, what he said,” Chuckles shouted after him. “Or maybe I just want an excuse to use your bathtub.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. Just hurry up. I’m starving.”

They couldn’t get into the building without permission, so I called downstairs to let the doorman know they were coming and offered the man a hundred if he made Chuckles sweat a little. Coulter was old as dirt, but he still loved a good prank and promised he’d send me a video.

Gary got out of the shower right after I got the call that they were on their way up, so I left the door unlocked and wandered into the bathroom to check on him. The concussion was minor and would resolve in a day or two, but I was still worried about it. Years of fighting meant I was familiar with concussions, though it’d been a while since someone got me good enough to cause one. They weren’t pleasant.

He was standing in my closet, wrapped in a towel, frowning at the wall of clothes. When I smacked his ass, because who could resist touching that ass, he yelped and spun around, glaring at me.

“Rude.”

“Pick something. The guys are on their way up.”

“Pick what?” he whined. “You’re way bigger than me. Nothing will fit.”

I wasn’tthatmuch bigger than him. I wasn’t Coach big. But I did have a few inches and a lot of muscle on him. I did a quick look around before grabbing a pair of sweats that still had the string so he could cinch them, and an old band t-shirt from when I was a teen and still growing. I kept it because I liked the band, not because it fit well.

Gary was still shy about being naked when we weren’t screwing around, so he yanked a new pair of my boxers up underneath the towel and pulled on the t-shirt before he divested himself of it. So, of course, I pantsed him just for thefun of it. He yelped and tripped, but he was laughing when he pulled his clothes back up.

“Jerk! I’ll get you back for that!”

“I’d like to see you try,” I countered with a smirk.

This was way better than last night. He was smiling again, carefree now that he was safely ensconced in my condo, away from the world. We’d need to return to it eventually, I wasn’t letting that asshole screw with Gary’s future, but for now, I was going to let him enjoy feeling safe. And I didn’t comment when he clung to my side. I liked that he felt safe with me and didn’t hate the cuddling as much as I thought I would.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

GARY

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