Page 9 of Saving You

The only problem was he didn’t trust them. He knew part of his hesitation and frustration with Sarah’s party was that he was—and always would be—worried about an ambush.

Still, he wasn’t going to punish his niece for her mom and grandparents. And Alora’s husband was nice enough. Grady was a decent guy with a friendly smile who actually had a couple of semesters of ASL under his belt. He’d worked as an EMT for years but had recently transferred to the fire department after finishing up at the academy.

He wasn’t around often, but he was usually the communication ballast Oz sought out whenever they were at a gathering. The only thing that bothered Oz was that Grady didn’t seem to understand or even notice the way Oz’s family treated him.

Oz wondered what it was like for him to be able to live in a bubble of ignorance the way Grady did. Part of him wanted to pop it and force him to see that his wife and in-laws were not always the people they pretended to be. But another part of him wanted the sappy bastard to be happy.

Whatever, it wasn’t like Oz was ever going to make waves.

He just wanted to get through life, maybe find a partner who wanted to settle down. Nothing more, nothing less. He wanted alittle happiness, a lot of contentment, maybe a decent rate on a mortgage, and enough money to fix his car if it ever broke down.

He didn’t think it was asking too much, but as he walked into these situations every single time his parents called him over, he thought maybe it actually was.

Fidgeting on the porch, Oz held his breath after pushing the doorbell. He waited for the all-too-familiar vibrations under his feet letting him know that Ridge was walking over to let him in. He wasn’t a big guy, but he was deceptively dense.

He had the look of a guy who belonged in a boy band with his neatly clipped and styled, dark brown hair and baby face he had to keep shaved because he had to wear a mask on the job. He was a couple of inches taller than Oz, and under the skintight Henleys he always wore, he was muscular and fit.

Oz had gotten a few glimpses of his abs over the years, and he could safely say that Ridge was one of the men in town that had Oz taking a harder look at his sexuality. He always thought of himself as an open, fluid kind of guy.

Straight-leaning, but knowing that he’d been attracted to men in the past.

One afternoon, he’d gone for a run, passing the station when he caught a glimpse of the guys washing the truck. He recognized Ridge immediately from a few of the get-togethers he’d gone to at Frey and Renato’s place, and his eyes immediately zeroed in on his abs. They were behind a white T-shirt that was almost completely see-through. The fabric clung to his muscles, and to his absolute horror, Oz popped a chub right there on the side of the road.

Then Ridge waved at him, and Oz damn near brained himself when he tripped over his feet.

Ridge had been the first one at his side. He hit the ground on his knees and eased Oz into a sitting position. His thin fingers with knobby knuckles lifted and asked, ‘You okay?’

He’d almost forgotten Ridge had a Deaf daughter. That he was one of the good ones who had created a sign space for her even though she had CIs the same as him. He swallowed down bitterness as he nodded. ‘Fine. Sorry. Just embarrassed.’

He wanted to run, but Ridge had insisted on taking him inside and giving him a once-over. Luckily, Oz was wearing jogging Lycra that allowed him to tuck, so his boner wasn’t obvious, and Ridge didn’t seem to be glancing down that way.

He grimaced as Ridge dressed the scrape on his elbow, thanked him, and hurried the fuck out of there.

It was in the shower when he was rubbing one out with the image of Ridge behind his eyelids that he realized he was more than attracted to him. And maybe he had a type. A hot, fit, adorably awkward firefighter type.

He kept that crush to himself, of course. He had no idea what Ridge’s orientation was like, and he wasn’t about to find out. He planned to keep his distance from Ridge and let it fade. And his plan had worked until Frey approached a little hesitantly and asked how he’d feel about taking on another kid now that Rex was getting older and too busy to hang with Oz.

He almost told him no. He almost told him his schedule was too packed because he knew deep down who Frey was trying to hire him for. Fuck, he wanted to turn and run like hell. Instead he smiled and nodded and told him to pass along his number.

And now—almost a year later—he was here. The crush wasn’t better, but he’d managed to keep his distance from Ridge’s personal life. The man was as tragically single as him, but he was starting to wonder if maybe Ridge preferred it thatway. There was no other reason why a man as good-looking and kind as him would still be single.

The door flung open, and Ridge appeared, wearing his most adorable smirk. ‘Hi! Come on. Ina’s getting out of the shower now. She had a mud puddle accident.’

Oz wasn’t entirely sure if “accident” was the word Ridge meant to use, but if it involved a mud puddle, it was probably close enough. He offered a smile as he stepped in, kicking his shoes off at the door, and halfway through his first step toward the living room, he nearly squashed Ridge’s massive cat.

He knew three things about Cheese: he’d been rescued from a tree right around the same time Ridge had adopted Ina, he was part Maine Coon based off how massive he was, and he was very particular about who she let around him.

Ridge told him it usually took months, if not years, for Cheese to warm up to strangers, but the moment Oz stepped foot in the house, the cat had settled on his lap like he belonged there. Today was no different.

He got settled in his usual spot—the left side of the squashy couch—and Cheese immediately hopped onto his thighs and began to make aggressive biscuits into his jeans.

“Ow!” he yelped, unable to stop the noise from escaping his throat.

Ridge appeared with a bottle of water and grimaced. ‘Sorry,’ he signed with full hands. He set the bottles down on the coffee table. ‘His love is very spicy today.’

Oz repeated the sign, then spelled it. ‘SPICY?’

Ridge nodded his fist, then made claw hands. ‘His love hurts.’

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