Clang(28)

It took less time than he'd expected to gather everything worth  bringing. After all, he didn't have a lifetime of trinkets to sort  through. He'd done this twice now, and every time, he lost more and more  excess stuff. He was a minimalist, but by force, not choice.

Chase shivered when he grabbed his bag of sex supplies: condoms, lube, a  couple toys. He'd need those if Jackson held out on him.

Not that he blamed him. Part of him  –  a large part of him, actually  –   was relieved that Jackson had laid down that ground rule from the start.         

     



 

That meant more to him than all the empty words in the world.

But what if Chase scared him off by being his usual flirtatious, sexual  self? He hardly knew how to relate to men except with sex. As much as a  problem as he knew that was, it had worked more or less fine for him in  the past. Now he was going to have to get to know his boyfriend by  living with him before he slept with him again. It was gonna be  downright weird.

Living with his boyfriend. God, it had been a while since he'd done  that. After fleeing his ex, Will, he'd lived in crappy Ontario  apartments before escaping out here. It had gotten bad enough he'd  considered adopting a cat just to keep him company. But he'd never felt  responsible enough to have one.

Jackson's knock interrupted his reverie.

Chase lit up with a sudden grin. He'd thought of the possibility that it  was Jackson before worrying that it was his family. Something had  changed.

Sure enough, the peephole showed him it was his boyfriend. Jackson's  muscled arms wrapped around an armful of flattened boxes. He had a roll  of packing tape in one hand, his car keys dangling from a finger.

Chase hastily unlocked the door and yanked it open. "I'm already packed."

"Great," Jackson grinned. He stepped sideways through the door to toss  the boxes on the floor in the living room. "This won't take much time,  then. When do you work?"

"One PM. Then class right after that."

Jackson checked his phone. "Oh yeah, we'll be fine by then. Do you think this is enough boxes? I have more in the truck."

"Oh, yeah." The half-dozen identical, flattened boxes looked like more than enough room.



As small as the five filled boxes had looked in the middle of his living room, they looked even smaller in Jackson's guest room.

Chase grimaced at the stack of boxes in the corner of the room. It was a  beautiful enough room next to Jackson's master bedroom, but... it  wasn't where he wanted to be. He squared his jaw, prepared to argue. "I  can do the no-sex thing, but... I'd rather stay in your room at night."

Jackson's arms slipped around his waist. "Okay."

"Okay?" Chase blinked. That was easy. He leaned into Jackson's chest and rested his head against his shoulder.

Jackson rubbed his back. "That's fair. We'll just use this room to store  your stuff. I'm renovating my master to include this space anyway, and  then we'll have more than enough room."

Chase nodded. He wanted to sink into Jackson's arms and make out on the  couch to forget the stress, but work called. "It's almost noon, isn't  it?"

"Mmhmm. I'll make you a quick lunch before you go."

Chase's chest felt warm. He was well cared for. "Thank you."

"Get changed or unpacked or whatever you wanna do," Jackson instructed.  He kissed the top of Chase's head. "Come downstairs when you're ready."

Chase grabbed his shoulder to keep him close, then leaned in to brush  their lips together. The kiss was so light it was almost teasing.  Jackson's eyes closed and he leaned into it. After a few more moments,  Chase pulled back. "Okay."

"Mm." Jackson smiled, then pulled away again to head downstairs.

Lunch turned out to be homemade creamy chicken pasta. Chase polished off  his bowl without thinking twice about it. It was so much better than  the boxed stuff. Jackson was as good in the kitchen as he was in bed.

When Chase told him as much, Jackson laughed richly and stood up to  gather their dishes. "Get to work, you," he teased. "Want me to drive  you?"

For the first time since last night, Chase felt safe. He shook his head.  He could deal with one little walk to work, especially since his family  didn't know he was here. "I'll be fine."

"Text me when you get there, okay? And before you leave to walk home."

Jackson's worry for him was adorable, and Chase glowed as he nodded. "I will."

"See you later. Have a good day."

This was what Chase had missed about living with someone. He bit his lip  and nodded. "You too." It was the hardest thing to pull himself away  from the table and grab his shoes to head out the door. Stalkers or not,  they both had work to do. He couldn't pull Jackson away for days on  end, and Floyd expected him to be on time.

Though he kept his fist curled around his keys in his pocket for the  walk to work, he didn't see any familiar faces. By the time he got to  the tattoo shop, Chase was a little more relaxed.

"Hey, Floyd."

"Hey, man." Floyd was just seeing out a customer who'd gotten a fresh  tattoo, and Chase tried to steal a peek. Already bandaged, though. "You  have a good day. Call me if there's any complications, right?"         

     



 

"Okay."

Floyd turned his attention to Chase. "How's it going?"

If only you knew. Chase laughed under his breath. "Uh, not bad. You?"

"All right." The door closed behind the customer, and Floyd looked at him. "Had some guy in here asking about you."

Chase's stomach sank. He curled his hands into fists again. There's only  a couple shops in town. It's easy enough to find me. He probably just  went to each one. "Right..."

"He looked a little shifty though. I told him nobody by that description  worked here. He brought a couple photos that looked a lot like your  work."

Chase could tell he was expected to spill the beans. He sighed, walking  up to the counter despite his instincts telling him to flee or freeze.  "Yeah. They probably were. Thanks, man."

"You're welcome. That was the right thing to do  –  say you weren't here?"

Chase nodded.

"So?" Floyd raised his eyebrows, then jerked his chin in a silent command to tell him what that was about.

"Uh... A few people I don't wanna find are trying to find me," Chase  told him. Even as he said it, it sounded melodramatic and he cringed.  "Just family stuff."

Floyd paused, his eyes narrowing. "This about the same thing as before? You gone to the cops?"

Chase shook his head. "I'm taking steps of my own." Like... fencing?  That won't protect me. I'd never be able to actually wield a weapon  against my own flesh and blood. Moving in with Jackson? More like  running away.

Floyd nodded slowly. "Just don't run off on me, all right? If you need help, I'll figure out something with you."

"Yeah. Thanks," Chase murmured and pushed himself away from the counter to get to work.

Floyd clapped his arm. "Welcome. So, we got a couple new bookings..."

As Floyd filled him in on their upcoming clients, Chase's mind wandered.

Maybe Floyd was right. Maybe all he was doing was running. Sooner or  later, he had to face his own problems and tell them to fuck off once  and for all.





Chapter 26


Thomas


"What the hell? Dude, come look at this."

Thomas raised his eyebrow and abandoned the frying pan to take a look  out the front window. Cameron was kneeling on his couch, shamelessly  spying through the blinds.

"The neighbors are gonna judge us," Thomas muttered.

"Who cares what the neighbors think? Jackson's moving boxes inside."

That was odd. As they watched, Jackson came back into view, walking down  his driveway towards his truck. They both spotted someone next to him:  Chase. The wiry little tattooed guy who they'd all met not long ago at  that barbecue.

More than that, the guy that Jackson liked...

Thomas still hadn't told Cam. It was a testament to how well he could zip his lips when one of his brothers asked him to.

"What's he moving?" Cam murmured, folding his arms on the windowsill.

Thomas sighed and smacked Cam's shoulder. "Okay, enough spying. You can ask him later."

"He hasn't told us about Chase renting the basement or anything..."

Aha. Perfect excuse. "Yeah? He said he was planning to reno it. Maybe  he's storing stuff for Chase, or Chase is... I don't know, helping him  renovate."

"Those looked like our old moving boxes."

Cam looked out the window again, trying to get a better glimpse. Thomas kicked Cam in the shin, harder this time.

"Ow! Bastard."

"Don't snoop around," Thomas shook his head. "Nobody likes a snoop."

Cameron rolled his eyes at him. "Ugh. Fine. What do you wanna talk about?"

"How are things going with you and Noah? You two were talking about  moving in together..." Thomas seized on the first subject that came to  mind as he walked back to the frying pan to finish cooking them lunch.