Page 18 of Needing Your Love
“He’s always been a world-weary wise kid?—”
I snorted.
“—but there’s substance and maturity that he lacked when he’d lit out like his tail was on fire. You can see it in his eyes. How he talked to other people who greeted him. His smile was real on occasion, especially when asking about them and their loved ones, oftentimes by name. Yeah, he’s a flirt, but he uses his words to uplift rather than cause trouble.” Dex’s throat bobbed as he swallowed a few gulps of his beer.
Heaving an exhale, I leaned onto the bar with my elbows. “Yeah. I’d guess his life in Boston hadn’t been the rainbows and butterflies he’d probably hoped for.”
Jimmy was also even more alluring than online images suggested, the embodiment of everything I hadn’t realized how badly I longed for until laying eyes on him. Beneath that facade, Jimmy Riley was still that hurting little boy, desperate for a word of edification and affirming, affectionate touches.
And I longed to give him both in spades.
Every part of me wanted to wrap him up in my arms and erase the flickers of fear that lay in his eyes when he spoke of his dad’s house and selling the property. The place would have to be cleaned out and cosmetic upgrades done before an offer was put on the decrepit home in the worst part of town.
Would he do it by himself?
Face down his demons without anyone to offer support if he needed a helping hand both physically and mentally?
The thought of him standing alone in front of that house of horrors I’d driven by yesterday didnotsettle right in my guts. My fingers itched to entwine with his, offering him something solid to hold onto in case the terror of memories got the best of him. I’d heard him whimper and cry out in his drunkensleep while on the jail cell’s cot enough times to know he hadn’t escaped his childhood trauma unaffected.
“What’s up with Christian Cole?” I asked, ready to turn my focus elsewhere and well aware the guy stared our way.
“What about him?” Dex asked, his tone guarded. He glanced up the bar, and I bit back a smirk as sparks flashed between the two men. If they weren’t careful, those two would burn the town down to ash.
“I heard from Kendra and Harry this morning that he applied for the same position you did.”
A muscle ticked in Dex’s jaw, and he gave his beer his full focus, pink staining his high cheekbones. “He did.”
“He doesn’t have the experience you do. He also didn’t grow up in Pippen Creek and commit his life to keeping this town safe like you have.”
Dexter had been hired at the fire station not long after graduation, and he’d been a dedicated firefighter for our town for as long as I’d worn a badge.
Christian had moved to Pippen Creek a few years earlier with his parents who’d bought The Moose’s Muse, and while Dex and I had close to decade on the guy, he’d had his heart set on fire chief, same as Dex who’d put in the time and effort to deserve the job.
Both men were competitive as hell, their word spats amusing as fuck even though they often left my best friend in a downright shitty mood and in desperate need of getting laid.
“You two ought to just fuck already,” I muttered, noting how both stared at each other without hint of caring over who noticed or what people thought of their supposed feud.
Dex sipped his beer, dark eyes intent on the bar’s opposite end. “He’s not into guys.”
My laugh turned into a snort, the type that caused a man to choke.
Dex slapped my back as I caught my breath.
“Are you fucking blind?” I rasped, clearing my throat once more. “Cole would drop to his knees and worship your cock the second you pointed to the ground.” I stated the absolute truth I expected all of Pippen Creek was well aware of. “Fuck already and end this tension everyone in this bar can feel.”
“You mean like the same sexual draw between you and Jimmy?”
I shifted on my stool, my lip curling into a snarl.
“Don’t deny it, Sutton,” Dex stated quietly, a hint of teasing in his voice. “Anyone with eyes could see the truth.”
“He’s too young,” I tossed the excuse I’d focused on before.
“Bullshit,” Dex replied as he always did. “Try again.”
“He’s nothing but trouble.”
“Maybe,” Dex agreed. “But he could be a fun time for you—hell, an eye-opening couple of days or weeks depending on how long he stays in town.”
