“Did I tell you one of Nate’s friends or relatives is going to help out at Nuts and Bolts?” Jack asked Isaac.
“No, but it’s about time. You guys have really built up the business. It’s not as easy to keep up as it used to be,” Isaac said.
“It looks very different than it did when I lived here,” I said. But it was busy then too. Hudson’s family had kept it going for many years, and even though Isaac had said the business had gone through a rough spot, I was happy to see it doing so well now.
“We did a lot of work on it and what we couldn’t do, we hired Jack’s family for. It all turned out exactly like we wanted, isn’t that right, Jack?” Hudson said and his pride was written all over his face. Jack grinned at him, and I glanced at Isaac to catch him grinning at me. I reached out and squeezed his leg and he scooted his chair closer.
“You’ll never believe what happened,” he said, but he looked a little nervous.
“Is everything okay?”
“Oh yeah. When I got home there was someone there waiting for me. It was a guy I’d met up with a few times but not for months. He said he was working around here and thought he’d stop by.” I wasn’t sure how to react, so I just listened, but Isaac looked so nervous, and it made me wonder if something had happened between them.
“Okay,” I said not really sure what else to say.
“Last year I would have been excited he’d stopped by but today I couldn’t get rid of him fast enough. Plus, it really annoyed me that he’d think it was okay to just show up at my house without messaging first to see if I had plans or not. What if you’d been with me? Or what if we were inside?”
“What did he do when you asked him to leave?”
“Oh, he fucked right off. He’s a nice guy, but he’s only looking for one night here and there. It worked for me then, but not so much now,” Isaac said and looked me dead in the eye as he spoke.
“I’m glad he didn’t give you a hard time,” I said.
“You’re the only one I want to spend time with,” he said and rested his head on my shoulder. I looked down a moment before looking up at Jack who was sitting there watching us with a big grin on his face.
“Remember when you gave us so much shit about how disgusting we are together?” he asked Isaac.
Isaac grinned and draped his arm over my shoulder. “Yeah, but now, I know how fun it is, so I won’t be doing that anymore,” he said, and Jack laughed. “Come on, fucker, let’s play pool.” Isaac kissed my cheek before joining Jack at the nearest table. Hudson scooted closer and I felt bad that he and I hadn’t had the chance to speak for a few weeks.
“So, how’s it going?” Hudson asked and tipped his head at the two of them arguing about who went first.
“So much better than I would have ever imagined,” I admitted. Isaac shoved Jack and the two of them laughed at something before Isaac’s eyes met mine.
“I never in a million years thought I’d end up back here running the hardware store, but meeting Jack and working there together was the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Hudson said, and I didn’t have to look at him to know he meant it.
“When we moved from here, I never thought about coming back. It was fun for a while but there wasn’t much to do here, and once I went to college I wanted to live in a bigger city. But now, let’s just say I’m not going anywhere soon.” I hadn’t thought about leaving since I’d moved back and a big part of that was Isaac.
“You two are great together,” Hudson said, and deep down in my bones I knew it. We were meant to be no matter how different we were or how much older I was. He was my person, and I needed to make sure he knew that. My phone sounded with a text, but I ignored it. It would wait.
Nineteen
Isaac
“You seem happy,” Jacksaid, and it felt strange and wonderful at the same time to be discussing my love life with him.
“I never in a million years thought I’d like spending time with an old dude after work,” I said.
“An old dude. You need to look a little closer at your man. He’s fucking hot,” Jack said. I looked past him to where Hudson and Tig were chatting and thought about how his eyes were so beautiful when we were lying in bed together, and how I knew all the muscles of his abs by touch.
“Oh, I know, but I want to keep him on his toes,” I said. Jack glanced at where the two of them sat and Hudson’s eyes were immediately on him.
“He hasn’t stopped looking at you the whole time we’ve been here. I’d say he’s on his toes, and he’s most likely in love with you.” Jack turned back to me and met my eyes, probably expecting me to be shocked or deny it. But where that would have terrified me a few months ago, now I was okay with it. Deep inside I knew what that feeling in my chest meant, and it had nothing to do with sex.
“We still haven’t fucked,” I whispered. “And I’m okay with that, but I think I’m losing my damn edge.”
“What are you talking about?”
“How many times did you say no to fucking me?” I asked him and his face heated.
