Page 75 of In Step

CHAPTERTWENTY

Abe

We sat in a tight circle,and the minute Kane finished his story, Leroy turned to Fox with a smug grin and clicked his fingers under Fox’s nose. “Pay up, loser.”

“Dammit.” Fox dug into his wallet and pulled out a twenty-dollar note, slapping it into Leroy’s open palm. Leroy snapped it between both sets of fingers and then tucked it into his shirt pocket.

“Oh, hell no,” Judah growled at Leroy. “There’s no fucking way you knew he was gay.”

Leroy waggled his eyebrows. “Open your eyes, little brother. I didn’t pick up a dicky bird from Kane. I got everything I needed to know from the way Abe looked at him.”

Kane chuckled and I shot him a glare from my position on the floor next to his chair. “Aw, that’s so sweet.”

I rolled my eyes. “For fuck’s sake.” I turned back to the room. “That issonot true. I don’t look at himanyparticular way, at least not in public.”

“Sorry.” Leroy spread his hands wide. “What can I say? ‘Dancing’ lessons every night?” He made quotation marks with his fingers. “Creeping back into the house after midnight? Going ‘sightseeing’? Sticking up for him? The list goes on. And if anyone knows about closeted crushes, I’m the fucking master, right, babe?” He turned and kissed his boyfriend on the cheek.

Fox sent me a look that said, ‘don’t bother arguing,’ and Leroy continued.

“Kane might’ve been a closed book, but you, my friend, may as well have hadhe’s with metattooed on your damn forehead every time you were together.”

He’s with me?I was too shocked to reply, but there was a spread of warm longing in my chest that was harder to ignore. Two weeks, it’s only been two weeks.

“Bullshit,” Fox grumbled, startling Bossy awake from his position sprawled over Fox’s thighs. “You got lucky, is all.”

“Excuse me. Still here.” Kane held up his hand and turned to Leroy. “I’m sorry about not mentioning the HIV thing. I should’ve said something working on the boat and all, especially after the accident.”

Leroy held up his hand. “You’re legally under no obligation to tell me or any employer, you know that, but thanks for trusting me. Are you... is it... ? Fuck.” He sent a pleading look to Fox. “What the hell am I asking? I suck at this.”

Kane grinned. “I think the word you’re looking for is undetectable, and yes, I am. It’s a bit hard to keep weight on, but that’s the drugs, not the HIV.”

“Yeah, you’re a skinny little fucker.” The comment earned Leroy another elbow from his boyfriend, and he scowled. “What did I say?”

Fox rolled his eyes and slipped an arm around Leroy’s shoulder, pulling him close, which made everyone laugh, and left Leroy scanning the room with confusion written on his face. “No really, what did I say?”

“Do you think your dad is going to cause trouble?” Morgan redirected the conversation and Kane’s smile slipped.

“Maybe you should tell them,” I said softly. “It’s their property, Kane.”

“Tell us what?” Leroy looked between the two of us.

Kane sighed and then explained about his father leaving the birthday card and contracts in his bedsit while Kane was out and the implied threat to Bossy.

“Why the cat?” Judah asked.

Kane sighed and reached to give Bossy a stroke. “All the kittens I had when I came here belonged to my cat from the farm, Possum. When I was at uni, Dad booted Possum out of the house and she turned feral. She lives in the barn mostly. She had the litter in the New Year, and the next thing I knew Dad had them bagged in a sack and was taking them to the river. He said if I wasn’t going to run the farm, he wasn’t interested in looking after my useless animals.”

Leroy gaped. “Fucking hell. So you left for a litter of kittens.”

“Yeah, I guess. Sounds stupid when you say it like that but I guess it was the last straw.” Then he read the text he’d received the night before—which I knew nothing about—regarding not selling the farm and that Kane had better watch what he started.

“Fucking hell.” The colour drained from Leroy’s face. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“Because I’d have to tell you why, and that would’ve led to, well, everything.”

I slipped my hand around his and he gripped it fiercely.

Leroy’s jaw set. “First off, we’re changing that old locktoday.And we’re getting a camera on your front door and one on ours as well. That’ll catch anyone coming up the driveway.”

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