Firefly Lane (Briar County 1)

And he’d be gay.

But he’d have a boyfriend.

Wasn’t as if it mattered really anyway. Roe loved his life here. Men like Holden didn’t stay. He’d said so himself.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Holden

“Hey,” he said, answering Vince’s call.

“Hey yourself. Wha’cha up to, gorgeous?”

“I was talking to the neighbor.”

“The hot guy you told me about?” They didn’t really do jealousy between them.

“Yeah, but then I mentioned my boyfriend was calling, and he took off like someone jabbed him in the ass with a hot poker.”

“Holy shit, you’ve been there less than a week and you’re already talking like a small-town boy.”

“Ha-ha,” Holden replied, his thoughts still on Monroe. Was the guy a homophobe? Holden didn’t know how else to explain it, not only his quick retreat, but the look on his face when Holden told him who was calling. If the guy had a problem with it, he’d take his sister and nephew and find somewhere else for them to rent—maybe somewhere with a bedroom for him when he visited so he wouldn’t have to sleep on the couch. He’d already offered, of course, but Marilee said she didn’t want to take that kind of money from him.

It was a shame, though. He liked talking to Monroe. He’d seemed like good people, but now he wasn’t so sure.

Holden mostly listened as Vince chatted. He’d just gotten back from a dinner out with friends, and was telling Holden about his plans for the week. Between his job and the parties and the work get-togethers he had on the schedule, Holden knew that even if he were in Atlanta, with no scheduled flights, he and Vince wouldn’t see each other that week.

A few minutes later they got off the phone, and Holden went back into the cabin.

He managed to get some shut-eye, and woke up when Marilee was getting ready for work in the morning.

“Shit. Sorry. I tried to be quiet so I didn’t wake you.”

“It’s okay.”

“You’ve always been a light sleeper.”

When he was young, it was because he liked to keep an ear out for when his parents came home late, drunk or high. Or when they were fighting. When that happened, he often went into Marilee’s room and slept on her floor. She was always more sensitive than Holden was to their arguments, or when they’d throw things or have wild nights. It was important to him to make her feel safe. “I don’t see that changing anytime soon.”

“Jesus, Holden. You were such a good brother.”

He waved off her statement. “We don’t gotta do this again.”

“Me man. Me don’t like emotions,” she teased.

“That was a fairly accurate impression of me,” he joked back, and they both snickered. “I’m going to try and get Sean out of the house again today. I’ll text you and let you know what’s going on.”

She nodded, grabbed her purse and her keys. “Thank you, Holden. Seriously. I love you so much.”

“I know you do, kid.”

“I’m a little old for you to still call me that.”

“Not to me.”

She smiled, then slipped out the door.

Holden made himself a cup of coffee and cleaned up around the cabin for a while. His thoughts kept returning to Monroe. Jesus, he was disappointed in the man’s stilted response. Though he never understood why anyone cared who someone else was in a relationship with, it didn’t typically bother him. He didn’t want assholes in his life, but he was uncharacteristically disappointed in Monroe—which was ridiculous as he didn’t even really know the man.

He let Sean sleep in. When he woke up and drowsily stumbled into the kitchen, Holden asked, “What do you want to do today?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged.

“Well, figure it out, kid. What do you like?”

Sean gave him a deep frown. “I don’t understand why you keep trying to hang out with me. You don’t have to do that to get on Mama’s good side.”

Fuck, this kid broke his heart. “I’m not doing it to get on your mom’s good side. I’m doing it because I want to spend time with you. You’re my nephew.”

“Yeah, whatever. You’re probably trying to make it look like you love me more than my dad does. Like you’re that perfect TV father like Wyatt’s is. My dad might not have done all that stuff with me all the time, but he loves me.”

Holden was speechless for a moment. He didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t good at this. He didn’t have experience with kids. Part of him wanted to wrap Sean up in his arms and never let him go—to tell him he loved him and wasn’t trying to prove anything. That people could want to spend time with him just because he was a great kid. That despite his dad having done those things, he’d still loved Sean, because even though the kid acted like he knew his dad did, Holden wasn’t sure if he believed it.