Page 11 of The Barn: Frost and Q
“Oh.” He blinked, his cock twitching to life as Frost bared it. “We could, I guess.”
“How long has it been since you had a nice long soak, baby boy?”
“Since before…”
“Well, then it seems like a good time.” Frost eased him back into his chair so he could pull off his shirt. “Pool first, then the hot tub. Our snacks should be here by then.”
“Okay, so.” He wasn’t even sure what to talk to Frost about. He didn’t know if he wanted to. Oh, who was he kidding? He wanted to. He missed Frost’s company like a sore tooth. “Are you going to be doing any smoke jumping this season? Like training?”
Frost nodded. “Probably, yeah. I can’t just stay here, and there’s only so much accounting that can possibly happen for this place.”
“You’ve always liked training. It gives you something to do.”
And he wasn’t going to worry about all the questions that he had, or the way that he desperately wanted to snarl about how it must be nice to just not stay here. Or, to be honest, think about why he was here. He could go anywhere. He could take his wheelchair and get on a plane and just disappear.
The fact was, Quentin had everything he wanted here—access, computers, privacy. His best friend. It would be stupidto just leave. Maybe Frost would let him have the shares of the Barn as a divorce present.
“You’re thinking hard, baby boy. What’s going through that head of yours?” Frost had him naked before he could blink, then lifted him out of his chair to take him to the pool steps, never letting him waver.
“I was just wondering if you were going to let me have the Barn as part of our divorce agreement.”
Frost arched one eyebrow. “Don’t be a dick, Q.”
“Well, you know. It is a thing…”
“No, it’s not. It’s not going to be a thing. You can’t have a divorce,” Frost snapped, and he blinked.
“Why not?”
“Because I said so. Because you don’t really want one. Because you know that if you did, you could make this really awkward, and you’re not.”
“I could be falling in love with Boone; you never know.”
Frost actually cracked up and almost dropped him. Okay, that was actually sort of insulting.
“What’s so funny? You think that Boone wouldn’t want me?”
“No, I honestly think that you’re not in love with Boone, Quentin, and you never have been. Boone would take you in a second, and I know it. Boone loves you dearly.”
Okay, this was not going the way that he wanted it. Everything had suddenly gone weirdly intense. He wasn’t into either weird or tense right now, so… “Jesus, Frost! Just shut up.”
“Sorry, baby boy, but I’m not going to let you tease about divorcing me. You want to tease about a lot of things, go for it. But we’re not going to tease about the divorce, and we’re not going to tease about the shooting. Here we are.” Frost eased him into the water.
“I’m the one who got shot in the head. I get to decide whether or not we tease about it.”
Frost shook his head, growling under his breath. “No. You want to joke about it, you find somebody else. I dream about it still every fucking night.”
And that was why Quentin had asked for the divorce, right there. Because it was simple. They were never going to get over this. They were never going to get past this shooting, no matter how much better he got, no matter how much he walked or didn’t walk or stood or didn’t stand.
Or wanted or didn’t want.
They were never going to get past this.
“Fine, let’s just swim.” They didn’t have to talk. Nobody said that they had to even speak to each other while they were in the pool. He could just sit there and float, and Frost could do laps and that would be that.
“Good deal. Do you need me to stay here?”
“I don’t need you to do anything. I’m good. I’ve got an amazing upper body. I can swim with no problem.” He could even kick. It was awkward and weird and stuttery and not particularly strong, but it was a thing. He could do it.
