Second Hand by Heidi Cullinan & Heidi Cullinan

Author:Heidi Cullinan & Heidi Cullinan [Marie Sexton and Heidi Cullinan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 9781640809017
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2019-01-08T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

EL WAS surprised the next day when he didn’t hear from Paul. Half the reason he’d agreed to take the silly dog was so Paul would have an excuse to come by the store again.

Still, it was only one day.

Denver hadn’t been able to make their usual laundry date on Monday night, so he and El met on Tuesday instead. El debated leaving MoJo at home just to avoid the questions, but in the end, her pleading little doggy eyes won him over.

The decision was not without consequence.

“You got a dog.” Denver shook his head in disbelief. “A little foofy dog. And you’re carrying it in a baby sling. Who are you, and what have you done with El?”

El gave Denver the finger and started to fish MoJo out of the carrier, pausing to hand Denver the leash. “Here, hold this. I need to put her down so I can have a cigarette.”

“Seems like it’d be easier with her all tucked cozy like that.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want her that close to secondhand smoke.”

Denver’s eyes went wide, and he held up his hands as he backed away. “Now you’re freaking me out.”

Yanking the leash out of Denver’s hand, El clipped the lead to MoJo’s collar and encouraged her to explore the outside of Tucker Laund-O-Rama while he slipped the other end over his wrist and fiddled with his cigarette. “It’s a favor for a friend,” he murmured after he’d taken a long draw.

Denver relaxed significantly. “Hey, you never answered me about the Fourth. Jase says I could have it off if I want, but I had to give a full report.”

El waved him away. “Forget it. You don’t want to get dragged into the middle of my family drama. It was a dumb idea.”

Denver raised his eyebrows but didn’t press the issue. “So we forget the Fourth. Tell me about the dog. You’re babysitting. Oh, this must be for Strawberry.”

El averted his eyes. “No, I adopted the dog. But as a favor. Look, you can go in and get started. I won’t be long.”

“The hell you get off that easy. What the fucking fuck, El? You adopted a dog for this kid?”

“Paul’s not a kid.” El inhaled half the cigarette in one furious draw, at least metaphorically. “But yeah. I took in MoJo because Paul asked.”

All signs of teasing died in Denver’s face. “Shit. You’re serious about him. Like, serious serious. Holy fuck.”

“Nothing’s happening.” El sighed and leaned back against the wall, nudging MoJo away from the smoke stream as she came back to explore his feet. “He has no idea. I fucking kissed him and he’s still clueless. It’s cute, but it’s also clear he isn’t interested. At all. On any level of any kind.”

“Except to ask you to adopt a dog, which you gladly did. Shit. And he didn’t even figure that out?” Denver looked wary now. “Are you sure he isn’t conning you somehow? Like, playing the long game?”

“Fuck off.”

“I’m not joking, El. I mean, I’m not going to judge, but I don’t believe anybody could be that naive.

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