Chapter Eleven

 

 

 

Zack didn’t want to wake up. He was floating in the perfect state of light sleep, where he was warm, comfortable and aware he was curled up around another body—a body that smelled like him and his. He didn’t want to move at all.

The choice was taken out of his hands when an unfamiliar melody started playing somewhere by the couch and suddenly Zack was pushed back and the body—David—stumbled out of bed.

“Hello,” David’s low, raspy voice made Zack smile, but then he frowned when he realized David wasn’t talking to him. He lifted his head to see him standing naked by the couch and rubbing his eyes with his free hand. “Oh, hey, Jack.”

That Zack liked even less.

“No, no, I remember, I just— Yeah, I overslept. It’s totally fine. Of course you can come. I told you. Sure, okay. See you at noon.”

David smiled when he finished the call, but Zack’s consolation was the way his smile grew tenfold when David’s gaze landed on him.

“Sorry for the wake-up call. Well, sorry for waking you up. I’ve overslept, so Jack actually did me a favor.”

In his still half-asleep brain, Zack couldn’t see how dragging David away from him was a good thing—a favor, even.

He was awake enough to know he was going to be embarrassed by his thoughts later on, but he couldn’t help it. At least he managed to keep his mouth shut.

“You awake?” David said, quieter this time, gentler, as he walked back to the bed’s edge.

“Some,” Zack mumbled and David chuckled.

“I wish I could stay for longer, but I’m already late. I need to finish the hall today and now Jack’s coming over to check out the place, so I have even less time.”

“Could I get a tour, too?” Zack asked before he could stop himself, but David seemed pleased—surprised, but pleased.

“Sure. Do you want to come by with Jack?”

Zack shook his head. There was a part of him that would love to be there when Jack came over, but he realized how stupid that was.

“Some other time, maybe?” He leaned up on his elbows. “I’d love a private showing.”

David chuckled. “Then maybe we should wait until the furniture arrives. My back may hate me otherwise.”

“I’m sure we could make it work.”

“I’m sure we could.” David leaned over and kissed him, even if the kiss wasn’t nearly long enough. “I need to get dressed and go. You get some more sleep, if you want, then text me. We’ll figure out our plans.”

Zack blinked. He realized David framed it in a way that both extended the invitation for contact and left Zack enough room to back out if he wanted to.

But he didn’t want that. He didn’t want that at all.

“Okay. I’ll text you. You sure you don’t need anything? Breakfast? Coffee?” Zack needed to be a good host.

“No, thanks. No time for that.”

David pulled on his clothes quickly, grabbed his bag and was out of the door before Zack managed to get out of bed. With his apartment now empty and no plans for the immediate future, Zack fell back against the pillows. Just a half an hour more.

 

* * * *

 

Three messages were waiting for him when he woke up—one from his mother, asking him if he would come over tonight and two from David.

 

Jack invited me for a beer with his friends tonight and said you could come too, if you want, so I’m extending the invitation.

Yeah, he guessed, but he’s not going to tell anyone, if you’re worried about it.

 

Zack sighed. He’d intended to say no to his mother, hoping for more time with David, but he had no desire to go out with Jack and his friends. It would be too weird, and this was not how he wanted the town to find out about him and David.

Not that he had any idea of how he wanted to do it, but still…not like this.

 

Thanks, but I’ll pass. Mom reminded me I should show up at her place tonight.

 

He got a reply right away.

 

Sure. Something wrong?

 

No, it’s my stepfather’s birthday today, and I forgot.

 

Got it. Well, I’m free any other evening, so just let me know when you want to meet. :)

 

Zack was both excited and nervous about David’s easy acceptance and open invitation. The guy kept surprising him daily, and he didn’t know how to deal with that, how to make sense of it. Zack was happy when they were together, but whenever he was left alone to think, he started having doubts. And whenever he was unsure about something, his instincts made him back off.

He wrote his mother that he would make an appearance, and he tried to cheer himself up with the thought that there was a guarantee of great food and getting his share of leftovers. He would survive one evening. He wasn’t a whiny teenager with a big chip on his shoulder anymore. He even liked his stepfather now, after he’d left all his resentment behind when he’d decided to finally grow up. He could make an effort.

 

* * * *

 

The evening had been fine, in the end. Far from the worst it had ever been, but Zack could admit that he’d used to cause most of the drama himself. He’d been a clichéd kid who acted out because his younger siblings had a father who cared, while his had bailed before Zack was even born. He’d acted out because Tia and Ted didn’t, and because his mother kept trying with him, and because his stepfather did, too, against all odds.

And sure, Zack had grown out of that, but he still couldn’t truly relax at this table. This was why he rarely visited, content to meet at various pack gatherings instead—less trouble for everyone involved and less irritation on his part.

Zack and Tia had been mostly fine in recent years, but they would both agree they had little in common. Ted, on the other hand, grated on Zack’s nerves more and more. Tonight, for example, Ted had shared with them that he was thinking of taking a year off from college and going on an adventure, which would be fine, if he hadn’t still been expecting his parents to keep paying for everything. When his father told him no, Ted turned to Mom for help. Then everyone started fighting.

By the time they’d all calmed down again and Mom had asked what was going on in Zack’s life, the last thing he wanted was to share any of his problems. I’m sleeping with a guy almost a decade younger, and I don’t know what to do with it, he imagined telling them then snorted at the mere idea.

“What’s so funny?” his mom asked.

He shook his head. “Nothing. I’m good. Everything is good. I’ve just had two night shifts in a row, so I’m a little tired, but that’s all.”

“Double night shift?” His mom frowned.

“It was an emergency. One of the guys couldn’t show up, so I was called in. Usually we have a night shift two or three times a month,” he added to remind her. She’d been very proud when he’d joined the sheriff’s department, but she also worried about his job, and while he could understand some of that worry, most of it was completely unnecessary.

“Harrington Hills isn’t exactly a high-level crime area, Mom,” Ted said. “And Zack has pulled all-nighters before.” He smirked at Zack. “Many of them, I’m sure.”

Zack grimaced. “Yeah, because that’s exactly the same thing.”

“I’m sure they’re more boring now, but since you’re getting old—”

“If he’s getting old, what does that make me?” Zack’s stepfather raised his eyebrows at his son.

Ted grinned. “I’m not sure you really want me to answer that, Dad.”

“You’re right. I don’t.”

They spent the rest of the dinner bickering, but it wasn’t malicious and the tension from earlier was gone. Zack managed to actually enjoy himself a bit.

It wasn’t until later, when he was loading the plates into the dishwasher and his mom was packing the leftovers for him, that she cleared her throat before asking, “Zack, are you seeing someone?”

He shoved the door of the dishwasher shut, probably a little too forcefully.

“What? Why?” There were a thousand possible answers running through his head, and he couldn’t decide what to do. He’d let his guard down, and she’d surprised him. He wasn’t ready.

“I’m curious,” she said.

“I think the pack would know if I was dating someone, Mom,” Zack told her, somehow managing to hide the truth in a different truth. Whatever he and David were doing, he wouldn’t call that dating. They had gone on one date. The rest was… The rest was complicated.

“Kalinda told me yesterday that she thought she saw you at that restaurant near the northern city limits, but she wasn’t sure it was you.” She shook her head. “I told her it’s not your usual place, since it’s so far away, but I thought I would ask.”

Zack raised his eyebrows. “Pretty roundabout way of asking me if I was in a restaurant.” He worked really hard not to show his reaction, but he wasn’t sure how much his mom was seeing.

“Why would you be there, if not for a date?”

“Well, I was there once, as we were coming back from Linwood with Portia. But it was months ago.” Another truth.

“Can’t you find yourself a boyfriend, though?” His mom put another jar into the bag for him.

“And here I was hoping for one night without that question,” Zack said, dropping his shoulders. “Let it be, Mom.”

“I want what’s good for you.”

What’s good for him. Zack tried to imagine David here, at her table, tried to imagine her face when he told her whom he was sleeping with. He would bet money and all his leftovers that she would not be happy. David might be the newest darling of the town, but Zack’s mother would focus on how young he was—how much younger than Zack.

And Zack wouldn’t even blame her, since he kept coming back to the same issue himself, whenever he was alone. He kept picturing himself at David’s age, only just leaving his rebellion behind and trying to make something of himself. What his younger self definitely hadn’t done was look for a serious boyfriend, someone to settle down with. It had been a plan for the future, for a time when his life would be where he’d wanted it to be.

For a time like now, Zack thought. He just found it hard to believe that a guy eight years younger than him would be ready to settle down as well.

He was getting in the car twenty minutes later when he got a text from David.

 

If I drunk dial you later on, don’t answer. I’m not planning to, but just in case.

 

Zack sighed.

 

And how do I know you’re drunk dialing me and not calling for help or something?

 

You’re right. So answer, but if I’m just drunk, don’t listen to anything I say.

 

I didn’t know you were planning to get smashed.

 

I wasn’t, but Jack is very convincing.

 

Stupid jealousy roared inside of him, making his irritation even worse.

 

Okay.

 

When nothing came after that, he shoved his phone back in his pocket then drove off.