Page 13 of In Step

“I ran into Kane again this evening, outside the studio,” I ventured, adding a slice of cheese to my bun as Leroy and Fox shared a quick look. “Seems like a nice guy.” I looked between them. “Still, I can’t help but feel there’s a story there. I mentioned it to Judah, but he drew up that wall of stone the two of you seem to have in common.”

Leroy sighed and waved a tomato knife at Fox. “You tell him. That way I can throw you under the bus if it bites us in the arse.”

Fox leaned sideways to land a kiss on Leroy’s cheek. “Such a brave, wee soul.”

Leroy’s cheeks blazed. “Shut up.” But his mouth quirked up and he returned the kiss. “Eat your damn burger.”

Fox took a mouthful, answering between chewing. “Kane, Leroy, and Judah went to the same school, although Judah was obviously younger.” He took a swallow of beer. “Anyway, Kane started hanging with a bad crowd. They bullied Judah.”

What?I frowned. “Kane?”

Fox nodded. “Hard to see it now, but yeah. And Leroy didn’t always stand up for Judah like perhaps he should have—”

“Say it how it is. I fucking sold him out,” Leroy muttered, carefully positioning his bun on top of his teetering burger. “I let those dipshits get away with too much.”

Fox laid a hand on Leroy’s shoulder. “You didn’t know how bad it was.”

Leroy jerked away. “Doesn’t matter. My own little brother. I was an arsehole.” He looked to me. “Did he ever tell you?”

I shrugged. “Just that you and he didn’t get along. But things seem better between you now, right?”

Leroy nodded but his eyes flashed with guilt and Fox returned his hand to Leroy’s shoulder. “You’re both getting there,” Fox said softly, and their eyes met. “You can’t turn the clock back, babe. You can only change what you have now.”

Leroy turned his head to kiss the back of Fox’s hand. “It took a long time to get my head out of my arse.”

Fox grinned. “Well, it’s dark in there. Fucks with your navigation, right?”

Leroy snorted and took a huge bite, putting a stop to me directing any more questions his way.

Fox’s eyes met mine. “According to Judah, the bullying was mostly homophobic bullshit name-calling, but it did get physical at times, although just once with Kane, right?” He looked to Leroy, who nodded and took over the story.

“Kane shoved Judah one day and he fell. And while he was on the ground, Kane kicked him. He was pissing blood for a bit.”

Holy shit. I gaped and fell back in my chair. “Kanedid that?” I could hardly believe what I was hearing. It so didn’t fit the quiet, almost shy guy I’d just been speaking to.

“Yeah.” Leroy swallowed another mouthful. “If I’d known at the time, I would’ve fucking killed him, but Judah never said anything until years later.” His mouth twitched. “Last year, to be accurate.”

“Whoa.” I shoved my second burger aside, having suddenly lost my appetite. “So that certainly explains why Judah was decidedly icy when I asked about Kane.”

Fox nodded. “You’re lucky he gave you any answer at all. To be fair, Kane did apologise when Judah came back last year, but you can imagine how well that went down, and rightly so. Apologies mean shit without action.”

“So how in the hell did he end up working for you?”

Leroy rolled his eyes. “My fucking mother, that’s how.”

My brow creased. “I don’t get it.”

Leroy wiped his chin with his napkin. “Something happened with Kane back at the beginning of the year. No one knows exactly what, except I’d betmy motherdoes. Whatever happened, Kane left his family farm and was sleeping in his car. Mum ran into Kane sometime after that and asked me to consider offering him a job.” He spread his hands. “You can guess the rest.”

“Fucking hell.” I blew a low whistle. “I bet Judah wasn’t pleased.”

Fox jumped in. “Leroy told his mother he wasn’t doing anything without Judah’s okay, and he gave Judah the final say. Funnily enough, Judah wasn’t as pissed about it as we all expected.” He and Leroy exchanged another look and Leroy took over.

“The terms were that Kane has to keep his distance from Judah. No talking or hanging around if Judah’s there. I was pretty cool about the whole thing at the start, but Kane’s turned out to be a good worker and we get on pretty well now, although it’s still like having a thundering elephant in the room whenever he and Judah are within cooee of each other. We’re all pretty tired of it, but the ice is thawing, so there’s hope. Judah actually nods and grunts hello to Kane every now and then. I doubt they’ll ever hold hands and sing kumbaya, but it’s progress.”

“Take it.” I pushed my untouched burger toward Fox who was eyeing it covetously. “I have to say, Kane didn’t come across as homophobic to me, at all.”Quite the opposite, which was interesting.

Leroy carried his empty plate to the kitchen. “Hard to believe, right? He’s fine with all of us. But then you never really know people, do you? Maybe he was and he’s changed.”

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