Savior:A Tattered Club Story(21)

They excited the door at the back of the shop. Ethan’s gut twisted with doubt. Experience hadn’t been kind and strings had always been attached when it came to accepting help. “Why are you doing this?”

Without looking over his shoulder, Niko stuffed his hands in the front pocket of his jeans and pulled out a set of keys. “Because I can. Get in the car.”

Three cars and one black truck were parked in the small lot. Niko shoved the key in the lock and turned, releasing the door locks. “This is your car? It’s really nice. What is it?”

Niko slipped onto the grey leather driver’s seat. “Nova, 1972 with modifications. Are you hungry?”

“I could eat,” Ethan mentally counting the cash in the envelope in his backpack and clicked the seat belt. The engine roared to life and they started down a side street to hit the highway that would take them back in the direction of the university.

The car rode smoothly and, to Ethan’s surprise, quietly. The silence kept his mind returning to the way Niko’s wide shoulders had loomed above him as they kissed. Niko kissed every bit as hard as he spoke, with intent, control, and on his own terms. But, was the passion an experiment, a way to tease the edge of what could be? What he was hiding from his girlfriend or wife?

Looking out the window, unable to let Niko see the vulnerable expression on his face, he asked, “Will your girlfriend be mad that you’re bringing me home to sleep on the couch? I assume you don’t pick up strays every day.”

The car slid through traffic with Niko never taking his eyes off the road. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

Ethan fought the urge to do a mental fist pump. The guy was still straight, but at least the fantasy was legit. He wasn’t trying to deceive a girlfriend or, God forbid, a wife. Ethan never wanted to play that game. Charles was a lying bastard for putting him in that situation when he’d lied about being divorced. Ethan had been blindsided when Mrs. Callahan had showed up on the doorstep one night demanding Charles sign some papers.

Charles explained Ethan was an exchange student for an inner city project, which was ludicrous considering his father was a financial competitor. In Ethan’s eyes, she’d believed the story just as Ethan had believed Charles’s story. The man was incapable of caring about either of them. Looking back, he’d been a complete idiot for starting the damn affair in the first place.

Burying the disgust, Ethan tossed the thought. “Do you live in the city?”

“No, I live in the old Palace Theater. It’s a few blocks from the shop.”

Ethan peered over, “You don’t talk much, do you?”

Was that a smile? “I guess not. Do you want me to talk more?” He turned the car into the university library parking garage. The lot was usually full this time of the day. He took the ticket from the booth. “How about you talk? Tell me how a guy your age gets with an old guy—a rich old guy. I’m not a dumbass, but something pretty fucked up must have happened to put you in that situation.”

Ethan hoped Niko would quickly find a parking spot because he needed out of the car—out of his past. “Can we get something to eat after picking up my stuff?”

“Got it. And I’m the one who won’t talk.” He pulled the car into a slot and killed the engine. “Listen, I don’t care what got you here. I’m glad...fuck. I’m glad you’re safe. That’s all that matters. That guy is a bastard. He’s starting all these projects in the neighborhoods with the intent of getting rid of the families and move in the rich assholes to make the businesses into moneymakers. The Professor’s son, Mitch, is in the thick of it. I guess he’s an asshole, too. Your sugar daddy has been trying to close the club. He was quoted in the paper saying the shop is a disgrace to the city. The asshole’s never set foot in the place.”

Ethan was no stranger to shame. Hell, for the last two years he’d taken the easy way out because his father had been not only a money tree but treated him like a second-class citizen. With an older brother who’d followed in their dad’s footsteps and a sister in medical school, Ethan was the disappointment destined to never amount to anything but a party boy.

They climbed the few steps to the library doors and walked into the spacious lobby. Ethan remained silent, hoping Niko would get the hint and stop asking questions. “My boxes are downstairs. I moved them to one of the back corners where no one uses the desks.”

Ethan felt a warm palm spread across his lower back as a guy passed by in a blur saying, “Excuse me” over his shoulder. He didn’t move, waiting for Niko’s hand to pull away, but when the thumb just above the waistband of his shorts began an agonizing back and forth motion, he held his breath. The mumbling voices and rustling of people went silent in his head. The chaos in his brain calmed to a void.