Free Hand (Irons and Works Book 1)

by E M Lindsey

  Derek nodded, sighing quietly as he leaned on his table. “I think this could be something. I mean…maybe not. He hasn’t really given me any indication he’s interested in anything more than friendship and sign language tutoring. But when I’m with him, it feels right.”

  “Would you be happy, just havin’ this?” Tony asked. “Just friends?”

  “Any way I can have him in my life,” Derek answered, and he was surprised by just how much he meant it. Before Tony could respond, Derek’s phone buzzed, and he glanced at the screen. There was a message from Niko, the first after his promise to text, and Derek was a little startled the guy had actually gone through with it.

  “Go ahead,” Tony told him with a grin and a wink. “I gotta finish this up before Kat comes in here and sees what a fuckin’ mess I’ve made.”

  Derek chuckled, then opened up his phone to read it.

  Niko: Any chance you’d be up for that drink tonight. It’s been a long day and I could use some company.

  Derek: I promised my buddies we’d hang out at our friend’s place, but he wouldn’t mind if you tagged along. Chill night, beer and food.

  Niko: Can I meet you at the shop?

  Derek: Be here at seven thirty.

  He set his phone down, smiling just a little. He wasn’t sure he was ready to consider more with Niko, but he really did want, at the very least, to be his friend. Sage had been right about how much they had in common, and he might have thought a few shitty things, but he wasn’t sure yet. And frankly, he was testing him. Maybe it was a dick move in a way, but he wanted to see what would happen if he brought Niko into a house with the people he loved whose disabilities were in your face visible.

  Derek: Yo, can I bring a friend tonight? I’ll pick up food.

  James: Whatever you want, man. If we can help you bump uglies and get you over this slump, we got your back. Nothing’s going down besides Matty working on my leg anyway.

  Sam: Whatever you want, but get bbq, I want slaw on okra so bad I can taste it.

  Derek: Gross, but ok. See you at 8.

  Seven-fifteen rolled around, and Derek wasn’t surprised at all when Niko strolled through the door. Lucy, Mat’s roommate who was just starting her apprenticeship with them, was using Sage’s stall, and when she smiled up at him, Derek realized Niko was friendly with more than just his brother in the shop.

  “Hey, gorgeous. How’s Cale?” Niko asked, surprising Derek that he knew Lucy’s younger brother.

  Lucy smiled. “Recovering. That flu this year kicked his ass. I can’t believe it hit in April.”

  “Tell him I’m still holding his spot when he’s ready to come back. I won’t ever cheat on my leg-day guy.” Niko winked at her, then leaned over the counter and made eye-contact with Derek. “Sorry I’m early.”

  Derek shrugged, glancing at Lucy out of his periphery who was watching him with a strange expression. He wanted to ask her what it was all about, but he didn’t want to put Niko on the spot. “It’s no worries. Do you want to do me a favor though?”

  “Anything,” Niko said quickly.

  Derek fished out the food order on the little post-it and handed it off. “Can you call Jerry’s and order all this? Tell whoever answers to throw it on my tab and that I’m bringing my card in tonight.”

  Niko looked at him for a moment, then glanced at Lucy before nodding. “You got it. Be back in five.” He strolled back out the front door, and Derek swiveled in his chair to stare at her.

  “What?” he demanded.

  She shrugged, twirling her colored pencil between her fingers like a tiny baton. “Nothing.”

  “Lies,” he said, pointing his sharpie at her. He was profoundly aware of how much she looked like Cale right then, in spite of being six years older than him, and only sharing one parent. “What is it?”

  “It’s just…everyone’s been talking about you and the flower guy. Like some epic love story or some shit. Niko is bad ass, I just…I guess I was confused.”

  Derek sighed, resting his back against his tool box. “It’s complicated, but right now, Basil and I are just friends. He’s helping me with sign, and I’m doing an arm piece on him.”

  “For free,” she pointed out.

  “Yeah well,” he said, then trailed off, because the last thing he was in the mood for was to tell the sordid story of his impossible feelings and the struggle of their communications barrier. “It is what it is. I had a date with Niko, and it went kind of shitty, so we’re seeing if there’s any way to fix it.”

  She looked startled. “Seriously? I mean, I’m rooting for flower guy, but it’s hard to imagine a date with Niko going badly. He, Mat, and Cale have been gym buddies for like a hundred years. Shit, my mom invites the guy to thanksgiving every year. He’s a good guy.”

  Derek bristled a little. “Well, he said a few shitty things about…something,” he finished with some hesitance, not wanting to drag Niko, but not really in the mood to listen to someone come to his defense. “Do you think he knows about Mat’s head injury?”

  Lucy’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know. I mean, he hates talking about it, so probably not. Why?”

  “Just…he had this sort of attitude about uh…about disabilities and deafness and shit. It wasn’t great.”

  Lucy’s face fell. “Oh. Well…”

  “Look,” he said, holding up his hand, “it’s not a big deal. We’re trying again, and even if it’s not going to work out like that, we can still be friends. He really does seem like a nice guy, so I’m willing to give it another shot.”

  The door opened then, and Derek went quiet as Niko walked back up to the counter and put the post-it down. “Done. He said about twenty minutes.”

  “Sweet.” Derek put his sharpie back in his drawer and then double-checked his stall. There was no point in hanging around, anyway. Kat and Laura were in the back to handle any walk-ins, and Wyatt was coming in later for a touch-up appointment, so they were covered. “We can get going.”

  Lucy gave him a sunny grin as he got up and headed out the front instead of the back, and he waved before the door swung shut. Neither of them said much for almost a full block before Niko let out a heavy breath and stopped Derek with a hand on his arm.

  “Look, if you don’t want to do this, I’ll understand. Don’t feel obligated because Sage and I are friends.”

  Derek couldn’t help a tiny laugh as he turned to look at Niko. “My brother and I might share the same face and most of the same ink, but we’re not the same person, and I sure as hell don’t feel like I owe him my loyalty to a person I don’t know that well simply because we’re brothers. I agreed to this because I think you deserve a chance.”

  Niko’s cheeks darkened, the color visible even under the dim streetlight. “I really am sorry about that. I should have known better.”

  “Maybe,” Derek gave him. “But you did listen, and that’s the important part.” He almost told him then, about hanging out with Sam and James tonight, but he wanted to see his raw reaction when they walked through the door. “Do you want to take your own car. In case it gets awkward?”

  Niko shoved one hand into his pocket. “I wouldn’t mind if we shared. Uh…unless you think you want your own escape. But I also have no problem calling an uber.”

  Derek smiled. “I think sharing is great. Come on, before I’m sacrificed to the tattoo gods for being late with the food.”

  ***

  They arrived twenty minutes later, Derek holding the door for Niko who insisted on carrying all three bags. They were at James’ place that night, a leftover relic from the thirties tucked back into a grove of trees. He’d inherited the place from his brother who had been thirty years older than he was, and no kids to pass his shit onto. It came with some nice in-law quarters, a little cottage out back which was currently being rented by a blind man who was taking a sabbatical from his teaching job.

  No one knew the guy well—no one except James, who occasionally ate dinner with him and played cards—but he s
eemed nice enough, and he never complained if guys’ night got a little rowdy and loud.

  The guys were set up in the living room, so Derek took Niko right to the kitchen to unload before they went in to make introductions.

  “Is your brother here?” Niko asked as he unloaded the boxes of brisket and chicken.

  Derek shook his head. “He’s out with a couple of the girls from the shop. Did you want me to call and invite him?”

  Niko bit his lip, hiding a smile. “Is it bad if I say no? I just,” he went on in a hurry, like Derek might be offended, “I like getting to know you without him there. Siblings make each other weird.”

  Derek couldn’t help his laugh, mostly because it was true. He tended to be a little more withdrawn whenever Sage was around, and it was worse after Ted tied because Derek was always so afraid something would remind his brother of the man he lost and would send him into a spiral.

  “I don’t think it’s bad. You’ll like these guys just as much as my brother. They swear a little more, but once they trust you, they’ll always have your back.” Derek grabbed a beer out of the fridge, and Niko grabbed water before following Derek through the sliding door and into the main living area.

  Before Derek could begin to make introductions, he felt Niko freeze at his back, and then take a stumbling step away, gasping, “Holy shit!”

  Derek frowned, confused for as long as it took to see Mat carving into the fleshy colored foam of James’ prosthetic covering. Niko had all-but crashed into the wall, and his face was turned away and slightly green.

  Suppressing a laugh, Derek reached out and touched his arm. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s a fake leg, dude. It’s just foam.”

  Niko’s breath hitched, then he opened his eyes and his face blushed so red, Derek worried he might pass out. “Seriously?”

  With barely repressed laughter, James lifted his stump into the air. “Seriously. One of the ladies at our shop actually does scarification, but believe me, she only does that shit at the shop in a very sterile room. I wouldn’t let any of these fucks carve me up on this nasty-ass sofa.”

  Mat rolled his eyes, his scalpel digging into a curve of sharpie-marked foam. “Dude, this is your sofa.”

  “Yeah, and you fucks know I found it outside the dorms last year. It probably has all kinds of pubic lice,” James said with a shit-eating grin.

  By then, Niko had calmed, his face fading to a faint pink. He leaned his head in toward Derek and murmured, “I am so mortified.”

  Derek shook his head, still grinning. “Don’t worry about it. If I didn’t know better, it would have freaked me out too. His leg looks real as hell.”

  Niko looked unsure, but he stepped back up to Derek’s side and looked around. His eyes immediately found Sam’s chair, though Derek doubted it was obvious who it belonged to. Sam was on the love-seat with his legs stretched in front of him, and James was half-lying on the sofa with both of his in Mat’s lap.

  Derek studied him for a moment, but he supposed any sense of immediate discomfort had been dispelled by thinking one of the guys was getting carved up with a scalpel on a dirty old sofa. “Guys, this is Niko.”

  “We’ve met,” Mat said with a grin.

  Derek rolled his eyes. “He’s Cale and Mat’s gym buddy, and I guess Sage fucks off there too sometimes. Niko, that’s Sam and James.”

  Sam stuck out his hand toward Niko, though he didn’t lean forward since by this late at night, his balance was usually shit. “Sorry, my chair’s over there so I’m gonna be rude and not come to you.”

  Niko didn’t hesitate as he crossed the room and grabbed Sam’s hand to shake. “No worries. It’s really good to meet you, Derek talked about you guys a lot.”

  Watching Niko carefully, it was impossible to miss the way his eyes lingered on Sam, the way they traveled over his features, down his thick arms, over his chest. There was a spark there that was definitely missing from their first date, and where it maybe should have stung, instead it just inspired him.

  “You can pop a squat there next to Sam,” Derek told him, grabbing one of the folding chairs and setting it up between the sofa and the love seat. “And the rest of you can get food because I’m not your damn servant.”

  James grinned, leaning over to slap his thigh. “Nah. Just delivery boy.”

  “Pretty enough to be a rent boy,” Mat added.

  Derek flipped them both off. “Fuck you, and go eat before your shit gets cold because I’m not in the mood to listen to you bitch.”

  “Yes dad, sorry dad,” James said with a laugh as he hopped up. He shook some of the foam from his leg, then slipped it on and led the way with Mat close behind. Niko rose to his feet, then hesitated as he looked back and forth between Sam and the kitchen.

  “Would I be an asshole if I offered to grab you a plate?” he asked.

  Derek could see Sam was holding back a chuckle. “Nah, that would be cool. I just want like a huge-ass pile of slaw right on top of the okra, and some of the mac and cheese. Maybe a beer, too. I’m almost out.”

  Niko’s hesitance turned into a grin, then he looked at Derek like he suddenly remembered who he was with and why. His cheeks flushed. “Can I grab you something?”

  Derek smiled softly. “I’m good for now. Go eat, though. I did promise you food.”

  Niko looked unsure, but after a beat, he turned and headed off toward the kitchen. The second he was out of earshot, Sam leaned over toward Derek and socked him in the thigh. “What the fuck you doing bringing your date around here before you two are solid? I know you didn’t miss that.”

  Derek bit his bottom lip to hide his grin as he shook his head. “Trust me, it’s cool. We didn’t get off on the right foot, and I was thinking there might be something there, but he didn’t look at me the way he looked at you even before the date went bad.”

  Sam let out a tiny sigh. “Man, I really don’t have time for that right now. Everything’s in the shitter with this custody thing. They want to find her dad’s family and offer them a chance to petition for custody now.”

  Derek felt like icy water had been thrown over his head. “What the hell? When did you find that out?”

  “Got the call last night,” Sam said from behind a sigh. “These fucks aren’t going to rest til they drag her out of my arms. I don’t…” He rubbed a hand down his face. “I can’t lose her. I’ve had her since she was nine months old, man. That girl is mine.”

  “I know she is,” Derek said fiercely. “Have you lawyered up? Like properly?”

  “I have some legal aid help, but shit, I don’t have the cash,” Sam admitted in a quiet voice. “These classes, these trips, all this paperwork—it’s been slowly draining what savings I had.”

  “Maybe I can help,” Derek said.

  Sam gave him a flat look. “I know you don’t have that kind of cash.”

  “Maybe not, but if we pool our resources,” Derek said, then gave Sam a hard look when his mouth dropped open to argue. “Don’t be a shit about this, man. She’s our girl too. Tony would cut his arm off rather than see you lose her, and I…” He licked his lips and felt his stomach twist with the offer he was about to make, only because he would only make it for one of his family. “I got connections through my dad. I just have to ask him.”

  Sam paled. “Dude. No. Fuck that. Fuck that so much. You’re not asking that sadistic freak for anything. Do you understand me? Do you know what he’ll want from you?”

  “Yes,” Derek said, because he did. His dad would want to drain him of everything he had left, emotionally, physically, mentally. But he’d do it. The sacrifice would be more than worth it for Sam and May. “I know exactly what he’d want, and I don’t fucking care. You’re not losing that girl.”

  Sam looked like he might be sick, but he didn’t get a chance to answer when the other guys came back into the room. Niko was subdued as he handed his plate off to Sam, and when he sat, it was a little closer to Derek. There was an obvious tension in the room, but it was clear Mat and
James didn’t want to bring it up with a stranger there.

  The topic turned to other things—Derek couldn’t bring himself to pay attention, his mind on calling his father and how, exactly, he’d manage to get the favor. But he’d do it. He didn’t care what he had to promise the old man.

  The tension died down a little, and Sam began to joke with Niko a little, and in spite of his protests, Derek could sense the spark between them. It would be a good match, he thought. When Sam moved to his chair to go outside for a little bit of air, Niko offered to go with, and Sam didn’t turn him down.

  The door shut, and both James and Mat rounded on him. “Uh,” James said, giving him a pointed look, “isn’t the gym-rat your date?”

  Derek shook his head. “We had a date and I’m not feeling it. But he’s a good guy, and I think those two might actually have something there.”

  “Sam’ll never go for it,” Mat said a little mournfully. “I’ve been trying to get that dude laid for months. I basically offered myself as full time, any time, babysitter. Like three am, don’t fucking care if it means he gets his dick wet. But he won’t pull the trigger.”

  “He told me about the update,” Derek said quietly.

  Both men’s faces immediately went stormy. “Those dudes are asking for straight up wrath brought down on them,” James said darkly. There was a southern-preacher twang in his voice—reminiscent of his past and his father, though Derek didn’t know too much about it. But every now and again, he could hear bits of James’ childhood peek through.

  “I’m going to help,” Derek told them. “I might know someone who can represent him, I just need to make a couple calls.”