Gus shrugged, “Sorry, man. You know how he gets sometimes,” before following right behind Fred.

“Fuck!” Braden dropped to the chair, running both his hands through his hair. He would never understand people, never get why it mattered who someone was attracted to or loved. He’d seen too many people he knew getting hell about their preferences for Braden to let it go easily.

“You have to see how we were shocked. We were just curious...he’s a fucking dude. I’ve been out with you when you were with women,” Rick said.

“No offense, but fuck you and your curiosity. You didn’t come at me like someone curious. And why the hell do you have a right to be curious, anyway?”

“Yeah,” Rick nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. Just got one question for ya, man.” He nudged Braden’s arm in a way Braden figured meant he was trying to say they were cool.

“What’s that?”

“I know you said you were into guys longer than Coop, but I gotta know...do I need to stop drinking the water around here or what?” he smirked.

Braden stood again and shook his head. “If that was the case, you’d be doing yourself a favor to drink the water.” He winked at Rick before walking away.

They didn’t get any calls the rest of his shift. He went to the gym when he got off and exercised for a while. Of course he’d been giving Fred shit when he said he’d been about to call Wes for dinner. It didn’t mean he didn’t kind of want to, but knowing the man, he figured he’d be all pissy because of how they spent their last time together.

How he could be in a bad mood after that morning he didn’t know, but knowing Wes, he would be. Or would he think he should be? There was always something right below the surface that Braden saw in him, a little light in his eyes that said he wanted more. Not necessarily from Braden but from life. He just didn’t get why Wes wouldn’t take it.

Or why I care so much...

But that was a lie, and Braden didn’t do that shit. He liked Wes, plain and simple. Liked more than just fucking him. He liked being around him. Liked the way he made Braden feel. And the Squirt, too.

Braden went about his business the rest of the week. On Wednesday he picked Jessie up at preschool like he did every week and took her home.

They watched cartoons and traced her ABCs, and Braden went ahead and made dinner. He texted Wes that he did and then put his phone in his jacket pocket so he could claim he didn’t hear it when Wes replied.

It was just a few minutes before Wes would be home when he lay on the floor coloring with Jessie and she asked, “Are you Uncle Wes’s boyfriend?”

Oh fuck. He had no idea how to answer that. He wasn’t, but usually questions like that came with more questions that Braden wasn’t so sure he should be answering.

“Um...no? We’re friends.”

“Do you like him? I like Eric. I might marry him one day.”

“Who is this Eric kid? You’re too young to talk about boys. I might need to meet this guy,” he teased.

“He’s in The Little Mermaid, silly!”

“Silly? Silly? I’ll show you silly.” He reached over and pulled her to him and tickled her. Jessie started screaming and laughing, making Braden laugh, too.

“Are you torturing my niece?” Wes’s voice came from the doorway.

“What?” Braden asked. “She’s torturing me!”

“Save me, Uncle Wes!” Jessie scrambled out of his arms and ran for Wes.

“You little sneak! You started this.” Braden laughed but watched as Wes bent and Jessie hugged him. His eyes caught Wes’s over the little girl’s shoulder and he got a reserved smile.

Braden winked at him, a strange need filling him up. A need to be able to embrace the man as a welcome home, the same way Jessie did. A strange need to feel like he belonged with these two people who he enjoyed being around so much.

***

On Saturday morning, Wes stood in the doorway to Chelle’s bedroom. Lydia had Jessie because he planned to start going through Chelle’s things. He needed to, it was important, but that didn’t mean his gut didn’t ache at the thought of it.

Lydia offered to do it. Maybe he should have let her, but he felt like this was something he needed to do.

His sister, Jessie’s mom, was gone, regardless if he kept her room in tact or not.

He took a step into the room, and then another. Wes eyed the chest but new he couldn’t deal with that yet. The thing meant too much to her.

He looked over the pictures on her dresser. It was full of them, mostly of Jessie, but some of the rest of them, too. On the corner, it was the two of them on his high school graduation day.