Page 38 of Good Friends
He turned on his heel and stalked away from Gavin before he said or did something that could effectively end his career in the Western world and get his FAA licenses pulled.
Since he had no desire to work somewhere like Mogadishu, or Jacksonville, it was time to walk away.
He ignored Gavin’s pleas to stop and headed around the outside of the building, almost at a dead run by the time he reached the Beast where it was parked.
He did punch the side of the truck as he ripped the door open, though.
Motherfucker.
He’d cranked the truck and was starting to drive away when Gavin headed toward him.
Didn’t he even get brownie points for not flipping Gav off, or peeling out and leaving a skid mark?
He headed across the complex to his building, his mind surging with this revelation.
I can’t even change my fucking cell number.
He’d had it for years, used it for work, not just personal.
But the thought of blocking Gav’s number also filled him with a different kind of dark pain.
This wasn’t how he’d planned things.
Gav was supposed to come back from Costa Rica, they were going to talk, move in together, and Porter wouldfinallyadmit to the guy he wanted to make what they had a permanent situation.
A lifetime kind of permanence. If Gavin would let him.
Wouldfinallybe able to admit to Gavin how much he loved him.
Finally.
It wasn’t something he’d wanted to dump on the guy while he was trying to decide what career path to take, because had he done that and Gav stayed and things went south between them, that would’ve been double the guilt heaped on Porter.
Had Gavin decided to stay, yeah,thenhe would have talked to him about moving in together. To save them both money and see where things might go between them.
To give being more than just good friends an honest shot.
To maybe trying things forever.
Guess I can lay that dream to rest now.
Chapter Twelve
Gavin knew he couldn’t drive on the interior service road with his private vehicle. He ran back inside. “I gotta run an errand,” he told Morris. “Where is Sunbay Aviation?”
Morris stared at him. “What happened? Didn’t that guy get his part? Or did they get one of ours?”
“It’s a long story. I need to go talk to him. Where’s Sunbay Aviation?”
He turned and pointed to the southwest, across the open field and runway, to some distant buildings over on US41. “This time of day, you’ll need to go down to University and head west, then north on 41. You’ll never be able to make a left turn across traffic on northbound 41 right now. Especially with the construction.”
“Thanks.” He grabbed his keys from his toolbox and bolted through the office. “I’m taking lunch,” he told Celia’s mom as he jogged out to the parking lot to his truck.
Then, as Gavin finally reached University fifteen minutes later, he realized how damn long this drive would really take. On a map it should be a five-minute trip, if that. Hell, it was less than a five-minute walk straight across the damn fields and runway.
In reality, however, it was nearly forty minutes later when he finally turned into the parking lot at Sunbay Aviation. He didn’t see Porter’s truck anywhere, although he did spot the old company truck he’d been driving.
Taking a deep breath, Gavin walked inside the lobby, but there was no one in there.
