Collide(21)

Coop pushed to his feet, the chair accidentally falling backward. “Shit.” He bent and picked it up. He needed to relax. Coop had no idea why he was so on edge.

“Let me go pay and we can go.” He took care of the tab and then met Adrianna by the door. They had taken her car. There wasn’t a place for Coop to hide his truck at her house, so she often drove. She always pulled her car around by the shed at his place.

“Ready?” he asked, as he held the door open for her.

“Always.”





CHAPTER SEVEN



“I’m hungry, and the food here is shit. There’s a little diner about a mile east called Reds. I’ll be there for the next half hour or so, grabbing something to eat.” The brown-haired guy—Wes, who’d sat next to Noah at the bar—stood, and walked out. Noah didn’t watch him go. Didn’t have to, to know he’d enjoy the view. He was sexy as hell, strong jaw with the right amount of stubble that Noah liked. He loved the way stubble felt against his skin.

He also knew that even though he rarely picked someone up at a bar, that’s exactly what he would do tonight. It’s what he came out for, after all.

It hadn’t been ten minutes that he’d been here when he’d noticed Wes looking at him. At first he’d turned away each time Noah met his eyes. When Noah let his gaze linger enough, Wes got the message—Noah was gay too. He’d come right up to the bar and took the stool next to him, and ordered a drink. They bullshitted a little, not too much, because the last thing he wanted, was to risk shit going down, but now Wes had solved that problem for them.

Raising a hand, Noah signaled the bartender over. “How much?”

He closed-out his tab, not that it was large, and he paid before climbing into his Mustang to find Reds. As soon as he pulled in, he saw Wes through a window, sitting in a booth alone.

“Hey,” he said, a few minutes later as he approached him.

“Hey.” Wes nodded to the seat across from him, and Noah sat down. “I’m only getting coffee and a piece of pie.”

That sounded about perfect to Noah. Would fill the hole, and be quick, too. The waitress approached them at that, and they both ordered their coffee and apple pie.

“Lived around here long?” Noah asked. He’d headed closer toward Denver, though not too far from home, figuring it would be much easier to meet someone. He’d almost gone all the way to the city to find a club downtown, but that wasn’t really his scene. He didn’t mind going if he had someone with him, but wasn’t much into going alone.

“Nah. Not from around here. I live in California. I’m spending time with my sister while she’s sick, helping her take care of her kid and all. I needed a night away though.” He shrugged. “I wasn’t sure where to go.”

There was a sadness to him that Noah hadn’t noticed before. It immediately made him feel for the man. “Sorry to hear about your sister. I hope everything’s okay.”

He looked toward the window, making Noah realize that it probably wouldn’t be.

The waitress returned, and set their mugs and food in front of them. “What about you?” Wes asked, when she left.

“I actually live in Blackcreek. I’ve only been back about a month now, but I lived there for a few years when I was younger.”

Wes nodded, but didn’t ask where Blackcreek was, making Noah wonder if he knew.

They spent about thirty minutes eating and talking. It wasn’t about anything at all really, and he wondered if maybe picking someone up in a bar was even more of a rarity for Wes than it was for him. He liked the guy though. There was something about him that Noah connected to.

After getting their bill, Noah asked, “Are you lookin’ to leave with me?”

“As long as you know it’s just tonight. I have too much shit on my plate right now.”

“That’s all I want, too.” The problem was they obviously couldn’t go to Wes’s. Not with a sick sister, and her kid there. Hotels were always an option but, fuck he hated going there. It made him feel like his mother. Like he was sneaking away somewhere, to do something he shouldn’t.

Coop won’t be home tonight, he said so himself. It felt weird as hell to bring someone to Cooper’s house. It wasn’t something they’d talked about, but again, he wouldn’t be there. He made sure Noah knew to make himself at home. He paid rent to live there. “You want to follow me to my place? It’s a bit of a drive but…”

“Let’s go.” Wes stood and Noah did the same. Each took some money out of their pockets and tossed it to the table.