TRASK’S HEART wasn’t entirely in the game, and it all had to do with a pair of subdued dark eyes. Subdued and Felipe did not go together. At least no one else in the group seemed affected, and the game rolled out with drama limited to characters. The only other one who noticed was Morris, who kept giving Felipe occasional glances and nudges. Best friends. You couldn’t hide a damn thing from them. Ryan, who eventually chalked his broodiness up to holiday blues, had hounded Trask a few times himself.
Trask painted the new scene for the motley crew of troublemakers, on a deserted outstation on one of the fringe planets, with a dead contact and an Imperial ship on the way. “Well, folks, what do you do?”
“I examine the body to be sure they’re dead. Carbon-based beings are so fragile. I don’t know how they work with those bodies,” Lincoln said with a doleful air.
“Of course she’s dead, you metallic moron. Spines don’t twist that way, and look at all that purple blood,” Dakota replied, shaking his head.
“Are you sure you intercepted that transmission right?” Morris asked with a frown, staring at the layout on the table map.
“Pretty sure,” Brett replied. “They’ll be here within an hour, and it’s a sure bet they’ll have a lot more manpower than we do. If we don’t find the information she hid, they will.”
“I’m searching the body for credsticks.” Felipe scooped up his dice. “Do I find anything?”
“Hey, man, have some respect.” Jackie pushed her miniature over to confront Felipe’s.
“Look, I’m a smuggler. I’m not some high-minded Senator like him.” Felipe pointed to Morris and then turned his finger on Brett. “I don’t have any loyalties to the Rebels like him. And I sure as hell don’t think your Force mumbo jumbo gives a damn whether or not the credstick rots with this woman’s corpse or helps me out. I have bills, you know. We have bills since you’d partnered with me to buy this damned ship.”
“Welp, I found the gal you wanted me to find.” Dakota smirked at Morris. “You can pay me now and I’ll be on my way.”
“The contact is no good to me dead,” Morris protested.
“Her status was not specified in the contract. Isn’t that right, Y-X8?” Dakota looked at Lincoln.
“Correct, sir. The contract was to locate this poor woman and to bring Senator Venau and his friends to her,” Lincoln intoned. “However, I do believe that we—”
“Save me the lecture.” Dakota flapped his hand at Lincoln and turned toward Morris. “But just because I’m a bounty hunter doesn’t mean I’m completely amoral like that smuggler. Let’s say another 15 percent and I’ll locate that information for you before the Imperials get here.”
“I’m not risking my ship by sticking around,” Felipe insisted.
“Don’t you think we should find out who did this to her?” Jackie argued. “Search the body for clues, not profit? We’ll find another way to pay our bill.”
It was so much fun to sit back and listen to good characters argue a situation out. Trask started a timer on his phone. If it went on long enough it might be a moot point, and he’d love to see what they’d do if that Imperial ship showed up before they came to an agreement.
He caught Felipe’s eye and gave him a faint smile. He’d missed him in the last couple of weeks. It had been hectic, more hectic than he’d been expecting as sales picked up both online and in the store for the upcoming holidays. It seemed he’d never had time to chat as much as Trask wanted or work out his moodiness. He had no damn reason to be moody, and it was time to get over it. One man’s opinion should not bug him. Even if that one was the father of the man Trask was falling for.
Felipe raised a brow and did not smile back. The imp was upset about something. Trask should’ve known when he decided not to come early, as he had last time. Trask hoped he still wasn’t mad over the canceled Thanksgiving plans. The decision to go had been up in the air, so it wasn’t like he had confirmed and then backed out on him. Trask could understand how Felipe would get his feelings hurt over that, given his history.
The argument between the players went on for more than twenty minutes, growing more heated until Morris threw up his hands. “Fine! Another 15 percent. Freaking mercenaries. And don’t worry about your ship. I paid for the repairs last time, didn’t I?”
“Only after we threatened to shove you out an airlock.” Felipe shot Morris a glare. “Don’t make me threaten that again. I know you have more creds than you claim.”
Trask glanced at his timer. That ate away almost half their time before Imperial arrival, and it was getting late in reality. Seemed like a good place to end it and leave everyone on tenterhooks until the next time. One thing he’d learned was to always leave the party wanting more.
“Glad you came to an agreement.” Trask folded up his game screen. “And on that note, I think that’s where we’ll leave it for tonight.”
“Nooo! Are you kidding me!” Brett jumped up and ran around the table as his wife looked on in amusement at his antics.
Sophie rose from her dog bed, watched Brett with a cocked head and lifted ears. She glanced at Trask, and he patted his leg. “It’s okay, girl.”
“Chill out.” Daphne shook her head. “It’s almost eleven. And if you think you don’t want to stop now, think how you’d feel if it had been midbattle. We do have a babysitter waiting for us.”
“There are going to be no battles, got it?” Jackie said with a stern stare around the table. “Felipe and I just got the ship running again.”
“Good luck believing that.” Dakota stood up, grabbed his miniature, and stowed it in its case. “There’s going to be a battle.”
“Maybe I can talk our way out of it.” Morris tucked his character sheet away.
“Yeah, that went soooo well last time.” Felipe rolled his eyes. He was the only one not preparing to leave, and Trask took that as a good sign. He wanted a chance to talk to Felipe alone, and he hadn’t had the opportunity all day. He didn’t think it would take much to get Felipe to tell him what was bothering him. Then they could move on to catching up. Trask had missed him.
One by one, their friends left, taking what was left of the foodstuffs they brought. Trask had been prepared this time and cleaned off the sideboard so they could have room for the Crock-Pot and trays. Boy, had they delivered too. Trask hadn’t eaten that well in a while. He’d have to get the recipe for Jackie’s mac-n-cheese.
And he was letting his thoughts wander because Felipe was sitting there silent, boring holes into him as Trask felt increasingly awkward while he tidied. He hated dealing with this kind of relationship issues because he never knew which foot to stand on. But he figured confronting Felipe head-on was better than letting him stew.
“You’re mad,” Trask finally said as the quiet grew taut.
“No shit, Sherlock.” Felipe’s eyes flashed with unreleased anger.
Trask scratched his head, trying to think of what he could’ve done. The last time he’d seen Felipe, he was yelling about marriage. A word Trask did not want to even think about. Their conversations on the phone hadn’t seemed off, but it was hard to judge because Trask wasn’t a fan of the phone much and tended to keep calls short and sweet. “Is it because of Thanksgiving? I thought that was up in the air, not the invite, but whether I could… would go or not.”
“I guess it depends on why you’re not coming.” Felipe crossed his arms on the table and stared Trask down. “If it’s because of my dad, yeah, I’m really going to be pissed. And I’m a little more than irritated that you had a confrontation with him and never once mentioned it to me. Didn’t you think I should know?”
“Is that what he called it? A confrontation?” Trask laid his hands on his hips as anger sparked. Well, dammit, he hadn’t figured on Mr. Suero as a man to tell tales. He’d suspected that a situation like that would upset Felipe, which was why he hadn’t said anything. Fights with his own old man were most likely to end in ugliness, and he hadn’t wanted to be the cause of one between Felipe and his dad.
“I didn’t think of it as that at all,” Trask continued. “We had a conversation. He expressed his concerns, rightly so I guess about my age, and he questioned my past. He wouldn’t be the first man to do that. There was definitely some measuring up. But it didn’t come down to raised voices or name-calling. He made his point and I made mine. That’s not a confrontation.”
Felipe stood up. “Did the conversation piss you off?”
Well, Trask could hardly deny that. “A bit,” he admitted. “I don’t like being judged, but that has more to do with people in my past than your dad. I don’t have much experience with dads who are protective, so I’m thinking it could’ve gone a whole lot worse. I think we both got each other’s message.” That he was still irritated was his own damn issue and went back to his inability to let things go.
Trask gave Felipe a wary look. “Why, what did he say to you?”
“That you got defensive.” Felipe walked toward him like a damn cat stalking through the grass, and it made Trask nervous. Felipe was unpredictable at best, and Trask just could not figure out what he was going to do next.
“I’m ashamed to admit that’s true. I let him get my back up, but that’s more on me than him.” Trask tensed as Felipe stopped in front of him. Oh man, there was pure fire in Felipe’s eyes. It had never occurred to him that Mr. Suero would’ve said anything to Felipe, but now all those questions Felipe had been flinging at him over the last week made sense. “Did he mention that I did jail time once?”
“He did,” Felipe replied evenly.
Trask kept waiting for the explosion to happen, and the fact that it hadn’t worried him. He fully expected that bomb. All of Felipe’s pent-up energy had to go somewhere. He searched Felipe’s face, but there was no judgment there. Not like there had been on his father’s. “It was for a DUI, and since it hadn’t been my first offense, I got a year. Ended up serving the whole time on account of not behaving myself.”
“You didn’t have to tell me that. I was waiting for you to be ready,” Felipe murmured, the anger draining away from his stance as he rubbed his hands over Trask’s arms.
Trask relaxed and reached for him. “It’s not like it’s a secret. I just don’t talk about it much. It happened, one more incident in a long string before I finally got the damn hint that if I didn’t get clean, I’d be dead. I know it seems like I dole my life out in small doses. But really you have the crux of it. I abused drugs and alcohol. Got into trouble for it countless times. If we sat here and did a biographical account it, would probably take days, and some of my memories are sketchy at best.”
“Yeah, I have the gist, but there are gaps. Stuff you really haven’t done more than hint at. Like your family.” Felipe held up his hands as Trask stiffened. “Which is fine for now. I know there were some real bad parts. I can also see what you’ve made of yourself despite your past. I’m not screwing the twenty-two-year-old Trask. I’m pretty damn sure I would’ve told the twenty-two-year-old you to go sniffing elsewhere until you got your shit together. But one damn day, if this keeps going, and I’d like it to keep going, I’d like to know. It’s a part of what shaped you.”
“I suspect if the twenty-two-year-old Trask came sniffing around, your dad would’ve chased me off with a shotgun, not exchanged concerns.” Trask pulled Felipe closer, relaxing now that the worst seemed to be over. That wasn’t so bad at all. “Though the thought of you with a younger me is one I don’t like. He was a selfish asshole, and you deserve better.”
He leaned in to kiss Felipe and was shoved back by a hand on his chest. “Oh hell no. We’re not done.” Felipe glared at Trask. “First you had words with my dad, and you still haven’t said what those were. Not really. Neither has he, but I’m guessing part of it has to do with staying the hell away from me. Which brings me back to why you bowed out of Thanksgiving dinner.”
“Look, I’ll give you the rundown how I remember it.” Trask leaned back against the wall and recited the conversation as Felipe listened with a frown. “I’m sorry if you felt that I was keeping things from you. In my mind it was over with.”
Felipe cocked his head. “You really told him it was my decision to make?”
“I really did.” Trask shoved his hands into his pockets as he eyed Felipe. Maybe this would be the end of the grilling and they could put this behind them.
Felipe was silent a long moment, and Trask could practically see the thoughts tumbling around in his head, he was thinking so hard. “And about Thanksgiving?”
“What about it?” Trask wasn’t sure he should admit one of the reasons he’d backed off was because of Mr. Suero’s attitude. Felipe would probably insist on him coming, then, and that really wasn’t the only factor.
“You’re dodging the damn question,” Felipe said through gritted teeth. “What are you doing for Thanksgiving?”
“There’s a young man who’s going through a real rough spot right now, and he was going to be alone on the holidays.” Trask had gotten used to not having family around for these times, but for Jason, an empty table was a raw wound. “I’ve invited him over to spend the evening.”
Felipe’s eyes went flat with fury. “Is he cute?”
Trask frowned. He could not keep up with Felipe’s emotional leaps. “I never really considered it. Even if he was, even if he swung in my direction, and I don’t know that he does, the last thing he needs right now is the drama of a relationship.” And Trask didn’t date within the meeting rooms. If a relationship didn’t work out, he didn’t want to feel like he needed to find another group. It would leave him homeless in a way.
“So now I’m being overly dramatic.” Felipe’s voice lowered to a dangerous level.
Trask pursed his lips and studied Felipe’s flashing eyes. That fury was still simmering there. Felipe never acted how Trask expected. He was waiting for curses and arm-waving at the least, not these still waters. There was a whirlpool stirring underneath, and Trask suspected he was about to get caught in the undertow. “Judging from the death glare I’m getting right now, yes, I’d say you are.”
Felipe grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled Trask closer. For one breathless moment, Trask wasn’t sure if Felipe was going to kiss the sense out of him or deck him, and he couldn’t have said what the hell he’d done to earn either.
“Fuck you.” Felipe smiled sweetly, let go of him, and sauntered out of the store.
Trask heard the front door chime and scratched his head. He looked at Sophie, who looked back at him with the same confusion. “What the hell just happened?” She turned her attention to her toys, and Trask sighed. “You’re no help.”
He went to the door, fully intent on calling Felipe back so they could finish this discussion, but when he got there Felipe’s taillights were already pulling out of the parking lot. “Well, hell.” Trask stared until the red glow disappeared, an uneasiness in his heart and utterly clueless on how to fix it.