Page 71 of The Barn: Frost and Q
I have been reliably informed I am by your husband so I guess you’re sure that there’s room? I can’t afford something like what y’all do.
There’s room.
Q would make sure of that, he had no doubt, and he was the money guy, after all. He’d make firemen scholarships or something. The guys wouldn’t even notice—they just signed the paperwork as he passed it through. It might do him good on the taxes, too. First responders, active-duty military—he liked it. He shook his head and chuckled.
He really liked it.
Q rolled in. “What’s funny?”
“I was thinking about first-responders’ scholarships at the Barn.”
Quentin blinked at him. “That works for me so long as they pass the background checks. I give no shits.”
“Excellent.” God, his baby boy did it for him—that hair all damp and down, Q wearing nothing but a thin pair of sweats. “Did you get Chauncey all set up in a cabin?”
“I got him set up in the actual main building. You know how we have those five or six rooms? None of them are filled right now, and that way he doesn’t have to feel like he’s so isolated. He can just chill.”
Smart, and nobody could bitch, either, because those rooms were way cheaper than the cabins. “Perfect. You did a good job.”
Q arched an eyebrow. “Of course I did. I’m fucking brilliant. Ask me, I’ll tell you. How are you feeling?”
“Like there’s about ten thousand evil gnomes jackhammering in my lungs.”
“Oh, so basically normal.” Q winked at him, gave him a warm grin. “Good to know. Are you ready to go home yet? I miss my dog.”
“You should have brought him.” Surely, they could handle that here at the hotel.
“I know. I just don’t know that the hospital would have been cool with it. I mean, I know he’s a service dog, but I don’t know. I think maybe if we were more practiced together, I would feel less like, ‘oh, you’re being a psychopath,’ and more like ‘it’s really important that I can bring my dog’. Also, I vote that you don’t ever go back into the hospital again.”
He nodded. “Duly noted. What did you order from room service?”
Q looked at him and grinned. “Burgers, great big double bacon cheeseburgers with onion rings and milkshakes.”
“Are we feeling a little decadent today?” God, yes. When one of them got out of the hospital, it required hamburgers. They both looked at each other and started cackling.
When Quentin had finally been released, that was what they’d had, even then. Great big greasy bacon burgers. Q had taken one bite and barfed all over everything, but he had finished his milkshake.
“Well, I promise not to hurl chunks.”
“Oh, well, I appreciate it, because I would just roll off and leave you in your own crapulence. I am not a caretaker. I am simply me.”
“Yes, but you’re my me, and I’m stupid in love with you. Have I mentioned how insanely in love I am, and also how grateful I am that you told me to get the fuck out of that particular situation?” He’d lost a lot, but he hadn’t lost everybody, and sometimes that was the best you got.
“I knew there was a problem. You know how I know things? I knew it was important.” Quentin hauled himself out of the chair and onto the bed next to him. “I’m glad you listened.”
“I’m glad that you came out here on a damn plane and rescued my ass. It was good to hear your voice in the hospital. I thought maybe you’d just… I don’t know?—”
“What?” Q’s eyebrow raised. “Stay there, wait for you to call, and wring my hands? I don’t think so. We have money. I have friends with power. It was great.” Quentin beamed at him, the expression one of utter satisfaction, and his lover started stroking his thighs, loving on him. “Oh, that reminds me, I did get Boone a burger too. He’s just waiting for me to call and tell him to come on.”
“He’s a good guy.” He had the most amazing friends.
“They all are,” Q agreed. “Tug’s at the Barn with Carson, holding it down until Boone can come home. You know that Carson can’t function without Boone.”
He grinned at Q. “Yeah, neither can Tug.”
Q’s eyes went wide. “Shh. We don’t talk about it. We don’t talk about that. We didn’t see anything.”
Frost barked out a hard laugh. That bird had flown. “You saw everything.”
