Page 7 of Touch of Innocence
FOUR
“I’d better follow that idiot boy before he scares off customers,” Mike grumbled, but Gunner was pretty sure that a lot of that was bluster. Mike didn’t hate Sam. He was disappointed in him, Gunner was pretty sure about that, but he didn’t dislike Sam, or Sam wouldn’t be working here.
Hadn’t he disappointed enough people in his time to pick up on that vibe easily enough?
Quietly, Gunner wiped his hands on a rag and then followed. Why he wasn’t sure. His conversation with Mike wasn’t over, he sensed that much, but his body was still tingling from the kisses he’d stolen from Sam. He should probably back off, but when had he ever been good at doing what he should?
“Oh, hey, Ben,” Mike greeted, speaking to a man who seemed to be in his late thirties with stunning green eyes and a strong family resemblance to Sam. Those eyes, he would know them anywhere. He’d only just met Sam, but already, those eyes seemed etched inside him somewhere.
“Hey,” the newcomer drawled, and he looked down at Sam, who was crouching on the floor greeting a young dog who pretty much wriggled with excitement. Gunner tried not to, but he couldn’t help but smile a little bit himself.
Sam and the dog seemed equally glad to see each other. Not that that was any of Gunner’s business. Not that he should be finding anything delightful about the stuck up brat.
“Ben, this is Gunner,” Mike introduced, and Gunner reached out to clasp the other man’s hand briefly. His grip was good and firm, his smile open and welcoming. This was, Gunner thought, one of the most content people he’d ever met. How he knew, he wasn’t sure. It was just this sense about him.
“Good to know you, Gunner,” Ben greeted, and the way he said it, it was like he actually meant it. “What’s your story?”
Gunner snorted softly. It was a friendly enough question, but he really didn’t think that Ben actually wanted to hear about the mess that was his life.Oh, no big deal, I’m just running away from my murderously angry ex-boyfriend who I’m pretty sure wants to kill me.
Yeah. That would go over well.
“Gunner’s just rolling through town,” Mike rescued Gunner, earning a place in Gunner’s heart for probably the rest of his life. “His bike engine got trashed.”
“Huh, that’s too bad,” Ben said and then frowned softly. “You got someplace to stay, kid?”
Kid. Gunner was not used to people speaking to him like that. In a way, it made him bristle, but it also sort of felt good. Even when he was younger, no one had seen him as something as innocent as akid.But this man really did seem to.
“No,” Gunner admitted. Nor did he have money for a motel. Or food. Maybe he could work something out for the bike, but he was going to have to eat sometime. Sleep, too.
There was a silence then, and Gunner became aware that Sam had risen to his feet and was giving Ben a look that was almost plaintive. Was Sam Ben’s son? Surely not, the age difference between them didn’t seem to be enough, though he supposed that technically, it could happen. Ben was even wearing a wedding ring.
“Where will you sleep?” Ben pressed, with the bluntness that Gunner was already coming to associate with this particular part of the world. He’d seen it in Mike, and now in Ben.
“I …” Gunner shrugged. There was no good way to answer that. No way that wouldn’t make him seem completely pathetic. He had already debased himself enough today, by begging for charity from Mike. He didn’t need to seem more like a loser than he already did.
“I got a place,” Ben admitted, while Sam shook his head, a panicked look on his face. “It ain’t much. Just an old barn that we converted into an apartment. We rent it out sometimes. You could stay there for a few days if you want.” Ben’s smile was understanding, but not pitying. Gunner was very on guard for pity, very ready to defend against it, but he didn’t see any trace of that in Ben.
Sam clearly didn’t want him to, and Gunner smirked a bit to himself. Twitting the beautiful, stuck-up, arrogant young man with his presence was almost enough of a reason to accept the offer even on its own.
The guy was just so adorable when he was pissed off. Gunner found himself smiling and nodding, accepting the offer, because not only did he have no choice but he had the distinct idea that it was going to be a lot of fun.
The kisses had gotten to him, no doubt about it, but Gunner honestly didn’t think they would happen again. Sam was clearly not as straight as he wanted to seem like he was, but Gunner wasn’t the type to force himself on someone. It was pretty crazy that they’d kissed at all since Gunner wasn’t normally into the whole closeted obnoxious brat thing that Sam had going on.
But part of Sam had wanted those kisses and more. When Sam turned those dagger eyes on him once more, Gunner could see it there. They stared at each other, ignoring Mike, ignoring Ben, something deeply complicated passing between them. Something beyond desire, or annoyance, or anger, or lust. Something which seemed to mix and mingle all of that into one.
“Okay. Gunner, looks like you got yourself a place,” Mike stated, pulling Gunner from the intense shared gaze with Sam. “And I’ll fix your bike, but you’re gonna have to work for me until the part is paid off. Deal?”
It was generous. More than generous. Gunner was good with his hands and enjoyed fixing things, and this would get him back on the road again. Just like that, he was taken care of, a place to live and a job and a hope at a future, maybe.
Which reminded him, he had a job waiting for him. He would need to call the man who had offered it to him, make sure that he knew what was going on. But that was all details. Otherwise, what could he do? Leave his bike here, hitch a ride into Austin?
No way. That just wasn’t going to happen. His bike was all that he had. His only link to a world where he was anything more than what he had become now. More than just a man on the run. He’d give up a thousand jobs in a thousand dive bars before he lost that.
“Sam. We’ll see you for dinner, right? You know it breaks Ruby’s heart when you ain’t there,” Ben said, and Gunner frowned. Ruby could be Ben’s wife, he figured. Sam’s mom? Or was he all messed up here?
“Yeah,” Sam sighed like he was giving in to the inevitable. Yeah, there was definitely more going on here than Gunner understood, or wanted to. This family was none of his business, though he did think Sam sort of seemed like an ungrateful twit. He was lucky to have Ben as a father if that’s what he was.
“Good. Isaac’s at the bar tonight, so you have the night off,” Ben informed Sam, who nodded, as though that made complete sense to him. Which it probably did, even if Gunner had no idea who this Isaac was. There was something, a sort of sweet, subtle tenderness, to the way that Ben said that name.
