Page 77 of Winning You
“Maybe you should come home with us tonight,” Bronx said as he unlocked the car.
Lucas froze and tugged Monty to a stop. “Uh. Why?”
“Because that fucker knows where you live, and we still haven’t gotten a call to find out if they found and arrested this little asshole.”
Lucas groaned. “I’m not five.”
“Yes, but you?—”
“No,” Monty cut in. “Let him go home, my love. He’s comfortable in his own space.”
Lucas wanted to hug him. “Look, I’m going to talk to my neighbor, okay?”
“The ex-boyfriend?”
“The ex’s brother.” And the person he was head over heels for, but yeah. He was gonna need his dad to get over all this before he dropped the bomb that he was seeing someone who was in high school before he was born.
“Maybe I should talk to him, too, if?—”
“Dad!”
“Alright, alright. I just need you to know this whole thing sucks for me, okay? I want to be allowed to protect you.”
Monty guided Lucas’s hand to the car, then let him go, and Lucas could hear him walking toward Bronx. “My love. He called you first. Before the police, before his friends, before anyone else. He called you first. You did protect him.”
“You make me feel safe,” Lucas told him. “But I also just want to crawl into my bed and go to sleep.” Not alone, but his dad didn’t need to know that. “I’m not afraid of Charlie showing up.”
“Alright,” Bronx conceded. He sounded better. “Let’s go get your phone, then I’ll get you back to your place.”
“Thank you,” Lucas breathed. He climbed into the back seat, trying his best to ignore the throbbing in his face as he rested his head against the cool window. Eventually, the motion of the carhad him dozing, and he was only peripherally aware of his dad stopping by the truck and taking his keys to get his phone.
He stayed in the daze until Monty gently shook him and let him know that they were at his place. He was awake then. Aware. His senses were on high alert.
It wasn’t because he was afraid of Charlie. His phone was dead, so he hadn’t been able to text Frankie from the car, and now he just had to hope and pray that Frankie hadn’t jumped to any conclusions and ended things before they could really begin.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
FRANKIE
It wasodd to go from walking on clouds to feeling like he was stuck in a mud pit, but that was exactly what happened when Lucas stopped answering his texts. Frankie got home from work a little late, so he shot Lucas a heads-up that went unread and unanswered.
He tried not to panic. He took a shower, double-checked their reservation, and then, when six thirty came and went, he walked over and knocked on the door, but there was no answer. Something was wrong.
Everything felt off, and while he wanted to panic and believe that maybe he’d just gone too far the night before by getting into feelings, he didn’t think that was it. Lucas was not the kind of person who would ghost him over something like that.
He would hurt Frankie’s feelings and carve out his heart before icing him out.
So he went back home and paced. And worried. He drank tea and tried to watch TV, but he had no concentration. He FaceTimed Fenton and Elodie, who were working on a homemade felt shapes book, but they were too distracted to keep conversation going, so he hung up and paced more.
An hour passed. Then two.
And then came a knock at the door.
Frankie all but ran for it, but when he flung it open, it wasn’t Lucas waiting for him. Fallon was standing in front of him, shaking like an autumn leaf, tear tracks drying on his face.
“What happened?” He pulled his brother inside and led him to the couch.
Fallon hugged his middle, rocking as he sat, his eyes closed. “Charlie.”
