Page 32 of Stay with Me
Drew opened one eye, gauging if he could reach the phone without moving. Heaving a sigh, he shifted just enough to get his fingers on the phone. A quick swipe and he had his text messages up. What the hell? Fifteen unread texts? Opening the program showed a group text thread had exploded.
Julia: Holy Fuck! Have you all seen this? **https://tinyurl.com/55k67p3t**
Mags: What the fuck?
Noah: OMG
Nova: Shit! I wonder if I could get Keith to do that.
Remi: No – I am not practicing that Noah. Just NO! I’d end up with TBI on top of all my issues.
Noah: What if I promised favors?
Mags: EWWWWWW
Nova: Can I watch?
Noah: Nova!
Nova: What? Your husband is hot. Don’t blame the new mama.
Keith: Seriously? Nicole isn’t even a year yet.
Julia: Focus people. Drew needs to figure out how to do this and make Brody a happy man.
Cam: Holy fuck! Where the hell did you find this, Jules?
Maddy: What the hell are you all talking about? If my phone wakes the trips because of you I’m beating you all.
Maddy: Okay, never mind. I’ll make Cal take care of them because dddaaammmmnnn
Okay, now Drew was curious after reading that thread. He scrolled back to the top and clicked the link. His Instagram opened and Drew’s eyes almost fell out of his head. He was definitely awake now. A video loaded of a guy wearing only a pair of slow slung track pants and a baseball cap pulled down so you couldn’t see his face. Flo Rida’s “Low” came through his phoneas the guy bent in half, placed his hands on the floor, and walked them out until he was in a push-up position. He proceeded to gyrate and move his hips to the music without missing a beat. He dropped to the floor, flipped to his back then raised his lower body to dip and curl his lower half.
“Is that for me?” Brody asked from next to Drew.
Drew looked up and could only blink at his boyfriend. His power of speech had been taken by some half-dressed guy in an Instagram post.
“Babe? Are you okay? What are you looking at? The hard-on you’re sporting is stunning but I wouldn’t think you had enough energy to watch porn on your phone. Besides, if you need some action? I’m here and more than willing.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Lieutenant Nolan,” Drew said as he absent-mindedly answered his phone. He was looking over the new training schedule for MWDs. They’d gotten three new dogs in to replace some who had earned their retirement. He needed to give Uncle Mooney a call. One of them didn’t have a furever home yet and he thought his uncle had said he was ready to get a new one since it’d been a year since his last MWD, Dirk, died.
“Drew?” a voice asked through the speaker. Drew stopped what he was doing and looked at his phone.
“Coop?” He’d become friends with Rick’s partner but Coop wasn’t one to reach out for no reason. They tended to talk when Drew and Rick were catching up. “Are you okay? Rick?”
“Physically we’re both fine. In fact, I just got an amazing offer to work with Bike Max coaching one of their new riders. I’m over the moon, but Rick isn’t okay,” Coop told him. “Rick left to drive to North Carolina to his parents’ house. His brother called today. Their mom is dying”
Drew replayed what Coop had told him. “Wait a fucking minute. What’s wrong with Rick’s mom? Are you telling me that Christopher knew their mother was sick and didn’t call him? I knew they weren’t close, but that’s fucking mean.” Drew was working himself up. He wouldn’t be surprised if there was steam coming out of his ears.
“Hold on, hold on. Christopher didn’t know until today. From what Rick said, his brother stopped by to leave something for their parents and found their mother on the floor. He freaked out and called nine-one-one. Their parents kept it all a secret. She’s got cancer and treatments aren’t working,” Coop told him.
“Okay, so I don’t need to kick Christopher’s ass.” Drew sat back in his chair and started planning in his head. He wasn’t sure if he could get time to go help Rick. There was a possibility Steve would give him a day or two to travel.
“Rick’s insisting that I go to Michigan and take this coaching opportunity. I’m not sure I’m right for it. I do have to figure out what I’m going to do when I retire. Being stuck not riding for these few months has proved to me that I am not made to be a house husband. I’ve got to be busy. I’m sure that Rick told you about my blanket fort?” Coop sounded like he was hoping that Rick hadn’t. Drew wasn’t going to tell the man that he’d had a good laugh thinking about Rick crawling under some blankets in the living room. Of course, Drew had given him shit. He had to. He was jealous that he didn’t have someone like that. A picture of Brody asleep using Drew as a pillow appeared in his mind. Maybe he did have someone. Thoughts for another time.
“Blanket fort? I remember having one when we were stationed at Fort Drum. Tristan, Julia, and I dragged every blanket and pillow into the TV room when we had a snow day. I thought our mother was going to kill us for the extra laundry she had to do,” Drew said, letting Rick off the hook for sharing that with him. Coop didn’t need to know. “Let me see what I can do to get Rick some support while you can’t be there. If I can’t get to North Carolina, Julia’s close enough to drive over.”
