“I looked because he was hot, not gay. Eye candy.” Eye candy that Shaney wanted to eat. His heart skipped a beat with the thought of Hudson. He was so dead. “Mr. Anderson said I needed full-time supervision since I get ideas when left to my own devices.”
Todd chuckled. “Nice way to say you need a baby sitter.” He pointed his fork at Shaney and dialed up the seriousness. “No porking the sitter.”
“Porking?” What’re you, like, five? Anyway, now I have to be his carpentry assistant.”
Todd shrunk back at that revelation as his fork fell from his hand and clattered onto his plate. For added special effect, someone on the TV screamed. “B-But you’re banned from power tools. Do they know that?” Apparently, Todd’s PTSD over the shop incident was alive and well. He leaned closer and stage whispered, “Do they know about it?” Gotta love air quotes.
Shaney shrugged. “Who doesn’t know? The story was in the paper, for fuck’s sake.” For weeks, people had cut a wide berth around Shaney, as if at any minute something would happen. “Apparently he provides some low cost repairs for the elderly, disabled, and people who just can’t afford it. I think he even barters work sometimes. Probably accepts kittens and babies to eat.” Before the mechanics of eating kittens and babies could kick in, Shaney pinched the skin under his arm to knock that shit off.
Ouch.
“Wow. Hot, a saint, and no doubt straight.” Todd leaned over, picked up his glass of water, and raised it to Shaney. “Congrats on that jackpot.” He stopped short of taking a drink and raised his thick eyebrows. “Does he know you’re gay?”
“Oh, fuck a duck.”
Chapter Five
Shaney tried to concentrate on anything but the smell of leather and masculinity in the cab of the truck. Hudson had picked him up at the ass crack of dawn. Seven a.m.! However, any complaints Shaney might have had disappeared the second Hudson stepped out of his truck. Shaney had wiped at his mouth because he was sure he’d already been drooling. A red and black plaid, flannel work shirt had stretched dangerously across Hudson’s chest and tucked into snug blue jeans, which ended at those sexy as hell black work boots.
“Hey, you got your boots clean?” Shaney had asked. When Hudson grinned, Shaney had actually sighed—like a freakin’ girl!
“Naw. Those were suede. Soaked that puke right in, so I tossed’em. These are brand new. Thanks by the way.” His expression had been smug.
“Why thank me?”
“Free labor. Saved me from having to hire someone. Bought myself some nice work boots.”
Shaney grimaced. Those nice new work boots were filling the cab of Hudson’s monster truck with the pungent scent of leather, a powerful aphrodisiac for Shaney. Give him a man in a leather jacket any day. He chanced a glance at Hudson, who seemed to be absorbed in thought while driving. Shaney hoped the truck wasn’t compensation for something small.
Shaney had decided to keep Hudson in the dark about his sexual orientation. Todd wanted Shaney to show his hand and lay all the cards out on the table. Shaney could either let that curious, impulsive cat out of the bag now by overtly staring and get an immediate beat down, or not tell, allowing him to covertly ogle Hudson. He might be able to use the excuse of hero worship for the staring. The second option won out. It was mandatory that he live outside his head while around Hudson because Shaney’s usual wrapped-up-in-his-mind-and-oblivious-to-his-own-behavior ways would get him decked quick.
Shaney steeled his spine and cleared his throat. “So, where’re we going?” he asked, breaking through the thick silence.
Hudson’s body tensed at the sound of Shaney’s voice. “To check on a camp at the north end of the Gull Pond. Someone from the next camp over called the owner this morning and said they’d heard some weird noises coming from that way last night. I’m the caretaker of several cabins in the area so it’s up to me to check it out.”
“What kind of weird noises?”
“Something moving around in the woods. Some yelling and screaming. Heard a boat, too.”
“Screaming? At a camp? On a pond? Ever heard of Sleepaway Camp?” Nothing. “Cult slasher movie from the eighties?” Nothing. Shaney shuddered. That movie had scared the bejeezus out of him as a kid.
Hudson stared at him blankly and shook his head. “Not really sure what they heard. People generally come here to drink and fish. After a day on the lake, drinking in the sun, who knows what shape any of them were in, or what they really remember this morning.”
“Sounds like the beginning of a horror movie to me,” Shaney mumbled.