Page 57 of Sean's Sunshine
And Sean had suffered the setback from trying to do too much too soon.
“You will be,” Billy reassured him, but inside he quailed. He’d come to care for the snarky, patient, irritable, tender man he’d shown up to nurse. He’dsaidhe could handle being a cop’s significant other, but truthfully, the idea scared him a little.
Couldn’t they just… justberight now?
But they couldn’t. He knew that. Sean had to make a living, but more than that, Seanwantedto make a living doing something important. The guy who would clean up glass on the front porch so Billy didn’t get hurt coming home was not going to hide out in his duplex when he could be doing something to make the world better, right?
“We need to keep up our own little investigation,” Billy said. “That’s why I need to be there.”
“Oooh!” Randy perked up. “What kind of investigation? Can I help? I’ll take notes while you guys ask questions!”
Billy looked at him thoughtfully. “Actually, if you want, you can come with us, and then, if we’ve gone too far, you can stay with Sean while I go get the car.”
Sean cast him an evil look. “How do you know I won’t be able to walk back this time?”
Billy gave him a look of compassion. “Because I’ve clocked it at a mile and a half, papi—you’re not there yet.”
“Augh!”
“Yeah, you hold that thought. I’ve got to go get the guys home, so you and Randy be good.” With that he dropped a kiss on Sean’s forehead and ran, Curtis, Vinnie, and Cotton in his wake.
“What was that?” Curtis asked after everybody was belted in.
“What was what?” Billy replied absently, backing out of the driveway with careful attention. The tenant in the other side of the duplex drove a giant SUV that wasn’t always easy to see behind.
There was quiet in the car until he’d gotten completely out and had stepped on the accelerator, going forward.
“The thing you did before you left,” Curtis said.
“Synced our schedules?” Billy didn’t get it.
“The kiss,” Cotton said patiently from the back seat. “You kissed him.”
Billy grunted. “Have kissed lots of guys. In fact, all of you.” He paused. “Except you, Vinnie. Sorry. You’re still new.”
“Maybe someday,” Vinnie said cheerfully from the back.
“I wouldn’t count on it,” Cotton said mildly, his big sloe eyes peering at Billy from the rearview mirror. “That wasn’t the kind of kiss you give when you’re going to kiss other guys.”
Billy grunted. “I still have a job,” he said, remembering that his next film date was coming up.
“Yeah,” Curtis said, “but you also have FAFSA coming, and a job waiting tables, and, hey, you don’t have to pay rent. You don’t have todothat job if it’s incompatible with your new monogamous lifestyle.”
“You guys,” Billy muttered, “I don’t want to talk about this. It’s all weird in my stomach, so could we not?”
“Sure,” Cotton said, because he was a sweetie-face who would never press things. “Just… you know. It’s okay. To be happy with him. You don’t have to feel bad for being happy with him. Someone who knows all of you, right?”
Billy had to tear his eyes away from the rearview mirror so he could drive and not wreck the car. “Sure,” he said gruffly. He absolutely would not look in the mirror again, because it was possible that Cotton’s enormous brown eyes had held the faintest look of reproach.
BILLY HADmanaged to shake that look from his memory by the time he finished class and got back to Sean’s place. When he arrived, it was to find that Randy had—on Sean’s directions—broiled a bunch of marinated chicken breasts so Sean could show him how to make a week’s supply of sandwich filling and stack it neatly in plasticware to put in the fridge.
It was a good home-ec lesson, and Billy was not surprised to hear that Sean’s mother had texted the instructions to him while Billy was at school.
Unfortunately it was not the only thing Sean had heard via text while Billy was gone.
“Good sandwich,” Billy mumbled through a full mouth, then caught sight of Sean’s intent expression as he checked his phone. “What’s wrong?”
Sean grimaced and showed Billy one of those courtroom drawings that sometimes got released to the press. “Christie sent me this while you were gone. Apparently Jackson and Henry werereallybusy last night.”
