“That the only reason?” Gavin asked.

“Nope. Your dick, too. You’re pretty good with it.”

“Only pretty good?” Gavin countered, and then, “so what are you going to do?”

Mason shrugged. “Talk to Isaac. Maybe he can deal with everything if I take over Sundays and Mondays. I can work here my five days and then spend my days off in Denver. I can deal with Boulder and Denver from there; we just have to hope things straighten out in Durango without an intervention.”

Gavin fought to keep his body from turning to stone. Fought not to feel that tug of jealousy that he had no right to feel. He hated that Isaac got to be Mason’s answer. For once, he wanted to be someone’s answer. He wanted to be Mason’s.

“No days off?” Gavin asked.

“You gotta do what you gotta do. Jesus, you know it’s going to kill me to leave this place for two days every week. I can hardly keep from doing drive-bys now on my days off. This is the first thing I’ve ever had that is completely mine. It’s something I’m building for me. But they’re my family. I owe them.”

If there was one thing Gavin understood, it was the feeling of owing your family. For him, the reasons were completely different, but his parents had always loved him. They were his family. If you didn’t take care of your family, what else was there?

“We’ll figure it out. I know I’m new here, but if you want to change my schedule so I’m here when you’re off, we can do that. I understand if you want to hire someone with more experience, but—”

“Hey, Gavin?” Mason interrupted him.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

And maybe Isaac got to help Mason with his family, but Gavin had this. “You’ll owe me.” He winked at his lover.

“I hope so.” Mason paused and then added, “Are you going to kiss me now, or do I have to tell you to do it again?”

Gavin tried to forget everything else—his family, Mason’s dad’s stroke, how their schedules would change and the fact that Mason would be in Denver with his ex for two days every week. Instead he did exactly what Mason told him to do, and kissed the hell out of him.

His dick hardened, and he’d do about anything to fuck Mason senseless right now, but instead he stood and nodded toward the stage, hoping this was the right thing to do.

“Where we going, music man?”

“To have your first lesson. You’re tense. Music helps me. Maybe it will help you as well.”

Mason gave him a simple nod and then followed Gavin to the stage, where they spent the next hour playing together.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The next couple weeks were crazy. Mason spent Tuesday thru Saturday working at Creekside. Sunday and Monday he stayed in Denver, not only to help with the restaurant, but also to help his mom with his dad. The stroke affected the left side of his body. He struggled moving it on his own, and was also in a wheelchair for now. They hoped with physical therapy he would gain control back, but there was no guarantee.

Jesus, it made his chest ache to see his father like that. To know how close he came to death. And he would have gone with Mason being angry at him. With their relationship strained.

And honestly, they were still living that way because Mason had no clue what to say to him.

His time with Gavin had been severely cut into as well. He was tired and overworked. Gavin spent a lot of time at the bar, but work time and play time were two different things.

As far as Mason knew, he still hadn’t spoken to his family, and that worried him, yet he hadn’t even had the time to talk to Gavin about it.

It was a Monday morning when Mason jogged down the stairs in his family home. He had meetings today about the possibly of opening of another location that he hadn’t even known about before his dad had the stroke.

It was a bad idea. Probably the worst idea there was, but his father and Isaac both pushed for it, so Mason decided to listen. There was a man that owned a failing restaurant who, as far as Mason could tell, wanted to cut his losses and run. Isaac and his father wanted to buy. It was cheap, yes, but it still felt like a colossal screw-up to Mason.

Coffee. Before anything, he needed a cup of coffee, so he went for the kitchen.

“Oh, Mason. I didn’t realize you were up.” His mom wiped her eyes and smiled at him.

It was the first time he’d seen her cry since everything happened. He knew she needed it but would try to hide it. That’s how she worked. “It’s okay to be sad, you know? Or angry. That’s okay as well.” He poured himself a cup and then sat at the table with her.