Staggered Cove Station by Elle Brownlee

Author:Elle Brownlee [Brownlee, Elle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 9781640804951
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2018-03-19T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

DAN started with Ridge’s notes. He didn’t have to read a lot to know enough. Denial and bitter acceptance rose like bile, and he choked them down. The fire was suddenly too hot and Karl too close. He wrenched to his feet, set the laptop on the long plank table behind the little fireside seating area, and paced.

Ridge found what he’d asked for and a lot more than he wanted to see. His heart sank into his guts, and he turned to Karl, opened his mouth to start explaining, and snapped it closed again.

Dan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Do you have any painkillers?” A headache was the least of his problems but he could do something about that.

Karl tossed his book aside and went to the kitchen. Dan accepted a glass of water and three pills and downed them all.

Telling everything to Karl, who waited calmly and patiently, was daunting. He almost preferred getting yelled at and pushed around.

“You asked, and well…. Growing up was just me and my brother, more or less. That’s who I have.”

“I have a younger brother. He’s a ranger up in Katmai.” Karl took the glass and retreated back to the couch.

“Whoa, that’s cool. Are you guys close?”

Karl shrugged. “Close enough. The little shit resented me growing up because I was bigger and faster and smarter—you know—but he’s made his own way now, and we’ve come to a better understanding of each other. Even if I’m Dad’s favorite.” He flashed a sudden grin. “But he’s Mom’s favorite, so I figure he has the edge.”

Dan grasped on to those tidbits about Karl, surprised at how much hearing them meant to him… and by how much he wanted to keep talking about stuff like that and learning more, instead of what he had to say.

“I wasn’t a favorite.” Dan smiled ruefully so Karl didn’t feel sorry for him. “My mom was out of the picture—a single mom trying to make ends meet working too much and later drinking too much. We grew up rough in a rough neighborhood.” He pulled a thread that stuck out from the waistband of his sweats. “I didn’t notice that for a long time. My brother is ten years older than me, and he made sure I didn’t. Kept me out of the house, kept us fed, taught me how to swim and about life. The beach was our home, our refuge.”

“Which explains why you joined up.”

“More or less.”

Karl seemed to see Dan with new eyes. Not many people figured him for a latchkey slum kid. His California golden looks and easygoing ways did that. He didn’t tell anyone about his past for a lot of reasons, and that was a big part of it. But somehow telling Karl wasn’t hard.

“What did he think about you taking a spot in the back-of-beyond Alaska?”

Dan swallowed and turned to the view out the front window. It was going to be hard.

“I don’t know. He’s dead.”

Careful, muted silence followed his statement. Dan drummed the windowsill and turned back around.

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