Nothing Special (Nothing Special 1)

When they were out of the jail and back in God’s truck, they looked at each other for a long time. Neither one saying a word. Again, communicating without speaking. He stared into God’s brilliant green eyes. Took in the man’s strong features—his Roman nose and cupid’s-bow lips framed by just the right amount of stubble.

It looked as if God was focused solely on Day’s mouth. They knew shit was about to get real serious. They had the information and were going after the kingpin and his army. There was no doubt that he was a dangerous man, and one of them could end up getting killed.

“Have dinner with me tonight?” Day asked, his voice full of emotion.

“Yes,” God answered immediately.

Aren’t You Coming In?

God was waiting in the Starbucks parking lot for Day to get another coffee fix, and decided to check Mr. Eudall’s phone. He’d only checked it once since he’d had the run-in with his family. He had a message thanking him for the sink. Gen had been so angry, God doubted that he’d put it together that God had had a toolbox when he’d thrown him out.

He pulled the small TracFone from under the seat and saw that he had a missed text. He looked to see that Day was still in line before opening the message.

Mr. Eudall, Thanks again for repairing the sink and im sorry to have to call you right back, but last night the hot water heater exploded and theres no hot water. If you cant help we understand. We’ll make do.

God pounded on the steering wheel before taking a deep breath. Fuck me. “Dammit, that’s gonna cost over a thousand bucks,” he groaned. Even if he bought the heater himself, there was no way he’d risk going there again to install it. God didn’t use credit cards, so he couldn’t charge it. He was broke; but he refused to have bad credit too. God felt a terrible headache coming on. He had no clue how he was going to fix this one. He couldn’t very well let his mom and brother go without hot water. How would they bathe, cook, or clean? God rubbed the back of his neck, he could feel the knots… they were huge. He cleared his throat a few times, it felt scratchy, and it ached now. He reached in the console and popped in another throat lozenge. He’d been sucking lozenges and downing cough syrup for weeks and nothing had worked on the terrible cough he’d developed. He hoped he wasn’t coming down with anything serious, because there was no way he was going to the doctor.

He tucked the phone back under his seat, and when he rose his head was spinning. Day walked across the parking lot with the largest cup of coffee they had and a small brown bag.

“I got you a coffee cake,” Day said, climbing back up into the truck. He tossed the bag into God's lap and took a long drink of his coffee, moaning like a slut at the flavor.

“Thanks,” God mumbled.

He hadn’t realized he’d closed his eyes until he felt Day’s hand on his shoulder. “You okay, God? You look a little green around the edges, babe.”

He looked into Day’s concerned eyes and cleared his throat again. “I’m good.” God had to blink a couple times before his vision focused enough to drive. His thoughts were all over the place, he was stressed the fuck out, and he knew that Day could see it. He pulled into Day’s driveway but left the engine running.

“Aren’t you coming in?” Day paused with his hand on the handle, looking at him quizzically.

“I’m a little beat. I think I’m just gonna go on home. We have a lot to do tomorrow.” God waved his hand in the air. “You know… planning the raid.”

“You can rest in my house too,” Day said back softly.

“I know, but I just need some time alone, I don’t think I’ll be much company anyway,” God said back. He rubbed his neck again and saw Day's hurt expression at the rejection.

“Hey, come here. Stop looking like that.” God held out his arm, and watched Day hesitate before leaning over to him. God kissed him lightly on the forehead, rubbing his back tenderly. He tilted his head so his cheek was resting on Day’s soft hair. “I’ll call you later. I just got some things to handle.”

“All right,” Day whispered and climbed out of the cab. He walked quickly across his lawn without looking back.

Dammit. God was sure that Leo was thinking that he’d changed his mind about spending some more personal time with him, but that was the complete opposite. He did want to see how Day was going to prove himself, but he had to handle his business first… and he really did feel like shit. God blew out another weary breath which turned into a coughing fit. He put his hand on his chest at the tight pain there, and tried to breathe through it slowly. What the fuck? God rubbed the back of his neck again and moaned at the tension. It would’ve been nice to let Day work these knots out for me.