Page 16 of Good Friends
By the time Porter got off the phone with him nearly an hour later, he had a lot to think about.
Alot.
Like the fact that they offered to pay him twenty grand a year over what he was currently making, and better health insurance, to move over to Sarasota and go to work for Kevin. He was now the general manager for Sunbay Aviation in Sarasota. One of the first things Kevin wanted to do was fire their current head mechanic, who was apparently a lazy screwup and counting on job security to keep his position.
Porter had more certifications than the guy had, too, another reason Kevin wanted him.
And Kevin wanted him to drive over, right now, and have dinner with him and the company’s owner to talk more in-depth. Guaranteed five-year contract if he’d come work for them, including a payout if they had to let him go before then.
Hmm.
So instead of knocking out that maintenance job he was going to handle, he wrapped up his reports, told Mike he’d had yet another change in plans, and headed home to take a shower, shave, and dress nice.
He could dress up when he wanted to or had a reason to. He didn’t often have a reason to wear something other than jeans, though. Slacks, dress shirt, and a tie tonight.
As he tied his tie in the bathroom mirror, he tried not to think about the night a week before Gav left, when he’d taken him over to Tampa, to a swanky steakhouse there. After, they’d gotten a hotel room, played, made love.
Stop it. Stop thinking about him.
His lease on the house renewed in three months. The owner had been making strong hints lately about selling to him, or selling it in general, but hadn’t yet given him an outright choice to make, or a deadline in which to make it.
As he ran a comb through his black hair one more time, he was already pro-conning Kevin’s proposal when his cell rang in the bedroom, sending his heart skipping as he raced to answer it.
An alarm tone followed by a computerized voice alerting, “Terrain! Terrain! Pull up!” An inside joke between him and Gav that had hauntingly seemed to come true when it came to their relationship.
Gavin’s custom tone, the only contact he had set to use that.
He grabbed his phone, his heart racing as he answered. “Hey.”
* * * *
Gavin swallowed hard. He’d actually dozed off and awoke from a nightmare where Porter was drowning, and he’d tried to reach out to save him, just to find out he’d had it backward.Hewas the one reaching out to Porter, begging him to pull him from the stormy sea.
“Hey,” Gavin managed. “How are you?” This used to be easy, fun.
This used to feelsafe.
Porterused to feel safe—his refuge from the world.
“I’m…good. I’ve been thinking about you a lot. But you asked for space, so I didn’t want to push.”
Gavin clamped down on the response he wanted to let fly—I justbetyou’re thinking about me when you’re fucking Jayce.
But he held that back. “Been thinking about you, too.” Gavin sucked in a breath and chickened out. “What’re you doing this weekend?” This would be the tell-tale.
“I’m home right now but I’m getting ready to go have dinner with someone.”
Fucker.Gavin licked his lips and was going to press forward and have this out, but Porter spoke again.
“So, listen. I need to talk to you about your plans.”
“Plans?”
“Yeah. Looks like I’ve got an opportunity to make some big changes in my life, but I don’t want to make any final decisions until you and I can sit down and talk first. I know we left it that you’re going to move in with me, and—”
“I’m not,” Gavin managed, his eyes dropping closed as he thought he might be sick. “Sorry.”
There was a long pause that had him wondering if the call had dropped, or if Porter had hung up on him, until Porter spoke.
