by Andrew Grey
“What do you mean?”
“Lee always looked forward to going to work. If he has to be there at seven, he’s up, dressed, and ready to go by six just to make sure he won’t be late. When he started at the garage, it gave him something to get out of bed for, a goal. But lately that energy has been missing, and it worries me.”
Dean nodded. “I had hoped all of this was behind us, but from the looks of things, Cliff is still going after Lee.” He shook his head. “He’s been working on restoration the last few days, and he’s been so excited about it. And then this had to happen…. What do you think we can do?”
Neil shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Dad,” Lee said, setting a bag on the kitchen floor. “I’m fine. I’ll deal with my own drama.” He searched for an empty chair and sat down. “I know you think you have to solve all my problems for me, but that isn’t necessary. I don’t have to work with Cliff ever again. And once we find our rock thrower, I’ll be just fine.”
“But, Lee….”
“This is what I’m talking about. Both of you are sitting here, trying to figure out what’s wrong and fix it.” Lee took Dean’s hand. “I don’t need either of you to do that. If you want to know what’s wrong, just ask. I can tell you that conversations like the one I just heard don’t make me particularly happy.”
“I’m sorry, son. We know you’re perfectly capable of looking out for yourself, but we’re your parents, and worrying is part of the job.” Neil didn’t give Lee a chance to argue, hugging him. “Your mother and I are both proud of you. Not everyone is dealt an easy hand in life. It’s what we do with the cards we’re given that matters.”
“I know, Dad. But sometimes it seems as if someone is stacking the deck—and not in my favor.” Lee pulled away just as Jane returned with two small bags. She handed one to Neil and then quickly walked toward the door.
Neil shook his head, then walked out with her, motioning them forward. Dean stayed with Lee until they got to the cars. Neil drove with Jane, and Lee rode with Dean.
When they arrived at Dean’s place, he turned on lights and was grateful the house was reasonably clean. “Please make yourselves at home. The guest room is at the top of the stairs and to the left. I can take your bags up in a minute.”
“It’s all right. I’ve got them.” Neil went up the stairs, and Dean put some water on for tea and gathered up some cookies and crackers and cheese to bring into the living room.
“I’ll take my things up as well,” Lee offered, and carefully made his way through the house, passing Neil on the way.
Dean watched him move, unable to take his gaze away. No matter what, Lee captured his attention and his heart.
“I see,” Neil said with a soft chuckle.
“What do you see, Neil?” Jane asked as she got comfortable in Dean’s best chair. Then she turned to him. “I’m still not convinced that this thing between you and Lee is a good idea, but you’ve been good to us and to him. So I do owe you the benefit of the doubt.”
“Will wonders never cease,” Neil quipped, and Jane pursed her lips.
“Come on, honey. You’ve been on this high horse of yours for a while, and I think it’s getting a little old.” Neil sat down, and Lee joined them. Dean explained where the food was located, then went to grab the tea and brought in a pot that had been his grandmother’s. It wasn’t often that he served tea, but it seemed like the right thing to do, and he wanted to offer Lee’s parents something other than beer or liquor, though under the circumstances, he could have definitely used something stronger.
“Your house is very nice… comfortable,” Jane said when he came back in the room, probably trying to change the subject.
“This was where I grew up.” Dean set down the tray. “The only place I’ve ever considered home. So I know how important it is, and how you all must be feeling right now. Please help yourself to anything you’d like. I have juice and some soda and beer in the refrigerator if you’d prefer something else.”
“The tea smells good,” Lee said, cutting off other options, and carefully poured himself a cup. Then he sat back and sipped from the cup. “Thank you for offering your home, Dean. We all really appreciate it.”
“It was unnerving to stay there,” Jane added, and poured a cup of tea for herself.
Dean wasn’t sure what they should talk about. It was getting late in the evening, and he had been hoping that after a little snack, everyone would go up to bed so he could get some rest. It had been a long day. They would go back in the morning to meet with the repairman, and Dean would take Lee to the garage.
Jane finished her tea, ate a few cookies, then set her cup aside. “I’m going to go on up.”
Dean stood when she did. “I’ll put out towels in the bathroom for all of you.” He hurried up, remembering his manners at the last minute. Once he got the towels out of the cabinet and set them on the counter, he left, passing Jane on the stairs. “There are additional blankets and anything else you might need in the linen closet right there.”
“Thank you for doing this,” Jane said more warmly than she had spoken to him before. She went to the spare bedroom and closed the door. Dean continued back down the stairs to where Lee was still sitting with his father. Moments later, Neil said good night, then went upstairs.
“Did you know what you were getting yourself into?” Lee asked with a smile.
“It’s just for one night. Tomorrow the window will be repaired and the glass cleaned up. Then things can get back to normal.” Dean moved to sit next to Lee. “At least, I hope things will.”
“I keep telling myself that it’s just a window and that someone is working off some anger, but….” Lee seemed to shiver. Dean put an arm around his shoulder after moving closer. “I keep wondering what’s next. So far it’s been my things and a rock through a window. What if this person decides to make his displeasure more personal?”
Dean wished he had an answer. The police had said that they would patrol the neighborhood, but how long could they keep that up? It was probably a futile gesture, one designed to make people feel better. It hadn’t worked for Jane, though.
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do.”
“About what?” Dean asked.
“Work. I don’t want to quit, but I don’t know what else to do to stop all this. My mom is scared, and Dad…. He doesn’t know what to do either.” Lee shook his head.
“I know.” Dean kept wondering what was really behind all this. Throwing a rock through a window seemed too extreme an action to be professional jealousy. Messing with tools and tossing a toolbox was one thing, but throwing rocks and potentially hurting someone was a different issue. “But you’re safe now, and tomorrow you and I are going to see if we can figure some things out.”
“Us…. How?” Lee asked, winding his arms around Dean’s middle.
“Well, I was thinking that we need to talk to Trevor. He owed Cliff some final pay, and I don’t think Cliff’s been by to collect it. If not, I want to be there. I’d like to talk to the man, to look him in the eye and see what he thinks he’s doing. This has gotten way out of hand.” It was the only thing he could think of right now, but it was a start. Dean sighed. “On second thought, I can’t do that. The police are probably going to be talking to him.”
“Yeah. I don’t think you and I can be the Hardy Boys. We’re too good-looking.” Lee flashed him a smile, and damned if he wasn’t adorable.
“I can’t argue with that, because someone—” Dean squeezed Lee closer. “—is the sexiest man I have ever seen.” Dean nibbled behind Lee’s ear, and he shivered.
“Besides, what can we really do?”
Dean pulled back. “I am still going to talk to Trevor tomorrow. I really want to get his opinion.” Sitting and waiting for something else to happen was only going to make Lee more nervous, and Dean would go out of his mind. Taking some action could only help, and Dean had to protect Lee somehow. He had just found him, and his heart was just starting
to feel whole. He wasn’t going to risk losing it now.
“Okay, and I’m going to go back to work and try not to worry.” Lee yawned. “I should go up to bed, get some sleep.”
“Take my room. I’ll sleep on the day bed in the office.”
Lee stood and took Dean’s hand, tugging him to his feet. “I don’t want to be alone.” Lee led him toward the stairs, and then Dean quietly guided him up to his room. Lee opened the door and went inside, bringing Dean behind him. “Dean, this is your house and we’re your guests. I’m not going to have you sleeping on the sofa, not after what happened the last time we were here.”
“But your parents are across the hall.”
“And you and I are going to sleep.” Lee tugged him closer. “Hopefully you’ll hold me, and maybe I’ll be able to sleep for a few hours. Are you nodding right now?” Lee asked.
Dean groaned. “Sorry.” He felt kind of dumb.
“Don’t be. I like that you can forget that I’m blind. It makes me feel normal.” Lee wound his arms around Dean’s neck. “And so does this.” He kissed him hard, still shaking slightly, and Dean wondered if it was because of what had happened or from sheer excitement. He knew why his own heart raced and he couldn’t get enough air—and it had everything to do with the man in his arms.
“I’d be more than happy to hold you all night long.” Anything to make Lee comfortable. “Do you remember your way around the bathroom?”
“Yes.” Lee kissed him again, then got the bag he’d placed on the bed and went into the bathroom.
Dean breathed deeply to try to calm himself, but it didn’t do any good. Stripping out of his clothes, he waited until Lee was done, then took his turn in the bathroom, flipped out the lights, and got into bed. Lee snuggled right up close, and Dean nearly came when he encountered no fabric at all. Dean sighed, wondering just how he was going to make it through the night with a naked Lee pressed against him.
“You’re naughty, you know that.”
“I forgot to pack sleep shorts.” Lee wriggled his backside against Dean, who wore a pair of boxers. Damn, he wanted to strip the things off and make Lee forget all about rocks, windows, toolboxes, and everything else, but he somehow managed to rein in those urges and just hold Lee, closing his eyes and willing his dick to behave. Eventually Lee’s breathing evened out, and Dean managed to fall to sleep.
“IT’S THE police,” Neil said the following morning, as Dean poured mugs of coffee, desperate to wake the hell up. Lee had tossed and turned all night, waking with a start at least three times. Neil reached for his phone and put it on speaker. “Hello.”
“Mr. Milford, this is Officer Kendall. I wanted to get back to you. We didn’t get much off the rock that was thrown, and we checked out Clifford Allford because of your son’s past experiences. It doesn’t appear that Mr. Allford had anything to do with the incident last evening. He readily admits to causing trouble for Lee at work, but he was apparently at his parents’ home in Glendale all evening.”
Dean set down the coffee pot a little harder than he expected, confused and wound up. Then who in the hell was behind it? Shit, he’d thought he had things worked out, and fucking hell, now it seemed he knew nothing at all.
“Thank you so much for the update.”
“You’re welcome. We are running down a few more leads, and we’ll be in touch. I have your email address and will send a copy of the report to you for the insurance company.” She ended the call, and Dean shared a stunned gaze with Neil.
“What the heck am I going to do?” Lee asked. “How can I protect myself from what I don’t know?”
Dean did his best to comfort him, but Lee was tense and shaking, and as far as Dean could tell, angry as hell. Dean wished he had an answer for him.
Chapter 8
LEE WANTED to scream for the eightieth time today as he nearly dropped another tool. Scott was going to get tired of finding them for him. He had had the drops for days and was really sick of it.
“It’s okay,” Scott said. “There is no one around, and all the doors are locked except the one near the office. Anyone coming in that way would have to get past Dean.”
Lee nodded and patted Scott’s hand to indicate that he understood. It made him feel a little better, but just barely.
“I think that’s it,” Scott said. “Let’s see if the engine will start, and then you can diagnose what else we need to do.”
Lee backed away, and Scott went into what Lee had been told was the largely empty interior of the car. Sure enough, after cranking three times, the powerful engine roared to life. Lee put his arms in the air, doing a little bounce, and Scott joined him, the two of them hugging. And then Lee listened. The engine still needed plenty of work, and he went to the computer they kept nearby and dictated his notes on what he heard. The timing was out, but that was to be expected. One of the cylinders was a little off, but again, that could be fixed. Lee moved his hand, and Scott revved the engine, which sounded pretty good overall. Some additional adjustments would be required, but otherwise the Cobra engine was in good shape. Once Lee was done, he signed to Scott, who switched the engine off.
“Sounds a lot better than I expected,” Dean said.
Lee used the computer to convey what Dean had said to Scott. “It looked bad because it was grimy, but we were able to really clean it up. All the hoses and belts were replaced, as was the air filter. Whoever stored this baby didn’t leave oil or gas in it, so it didn’t get gunked up. It was like it was in a time capsule.” Lee wished he could have seen it, but he’d felt his way around inside with Scott’s guidance and put together a picture in his mind.
“We need to look at the transmission and drive system before we do anything else,” Lee dictated, and Scott smiled and nodded. There was still a lot of work, months of it, but the time they could allot to it right now was nearly up and they all were about ready to get home. The group of them had agreed that at least seven hours every day had to be spent on work for current paying customers. Then, if they wanted, they could stay a few hours to work on the Cobra.
They finished closing up the garage for the night, and Lee said goodbye to Scott with a hug before waiting for Dean.
“There’s someone outside,” Dean said, and Lee waited. “It’s Trevor.” The click of the lock was followed by the sound of Trevor breezing inside.
“We got a lot done today. The Camaro will be done ahead of schedule, and then we’ll get started on the Corvette,” Dean explained to Trevor.
“We got the engine on the Cobra running. After making some adjustments, it’s going to purr like a kitten.” Lee was so proud.
“That’s awesome, guys.” Trevor definitely sounded preoccupied. “Brent called me a little while ago because he noticed a strange guy hanging around the garage. He recognized him as the one who tried to drug Lee at the club. He disappeared as soon as he realized Brent had seen him, but I thought you would want to know.”
“Do you think he could be behind the rock incident?” Lee asked.
“I was wondering that myself. He keeps turning up like a bad penny. I think we need to find this guy and get some answers from him. At least find out his full name so the police can check him out.”
Lee leaned on Dean, a firm grip tightening around his waist, easing some of his anxiety. “Why would this guy be all that interested in me? As far as I know, he’s never seen me before that night.”
“That’s what we need to find out. Maybe James and I will go back to the club, and I can ask around if anyone knows him.”
“But isn’t this a long shot?” Lee asked.
“Maybe, but it’s something.”
But not enough to matter, Lee thought. He didn’t know how long he’d go on like this.
“Is your folks’ window fixed?” Trevor asked.
“Yes. Mom messaged that it was done, and everything was cleaned up by noon. After that, she spent the day with friends because she didn’t want to be alone in the house.” Not that Lee blamed her. He int
ended to avoid that room for the next little while. “Dad had to go into work, but he’s home now.”
Trevor’s phone chimed, and Lee heard the clicks of him answering a text. “I have to go. James is sitting at home wondering where I am. I’m supposed to make dinner tonight, and he says he’s hungry.” Trevor chuckled. “I’ll let you know if we track down the cowboy.”
“Thanks,” Dean said. The door opened and closed. “We might as well get going. I can take you home, unless you’d like to get some dinner. I’m thinking gyros.”
Lee was always up for that. He made his way outside and let Dean guide him to the car. Once they were on their way, Lee had time to ruminate. “Do you think there’s a chance that this stranger is really after me? I know he was aggressive at the club, but maybe he’s like that with any vulnerable guy. The note seemed more personal than anything he could write.”
“I agree, but with him hanging around, it would be stupid for us not to look into it. There’s also the possibility that Randy or one of the other guys is doing this for Cliff. I don’t know. It can’t hurt for Trevor and James to ask around the club. You never know when something interesting might turn up.”
The car pulled to a stop, and Lee was grateful he didn’t get carsick. One thing that had taken a lot to get used to was losing most of the cues people had when in a moving car. Lights changed, cars ahead braked. Most riders could see that, but those visual indications were gone for him, so a lot of the time he felt a little pushed and jostled around. Riding with Dean was different, though. He talked as he drove, and sometimes he told Lee about what he was doing so when he needed to stop, Lee could be ready. He never said why he did this—Dean just seemed to do it for him.