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  His dad had dealt with it all by not dealing with it all—pretended like everything was fine and it was just a small inconvenience. Some days Danny didn’t know how he and the asshole had the same DNA. More than once he’d secretly hoped his mom had cheated on his dad and the guy wasn’t even his real father. Yet beneath all the resentment, there was still a small, stupid part of him who was ten years old and wanted to make his dad proud. Just once. Have a real father-son moment. Of course, if his dad ever found out he was gay, he’d get disowned faster than the airbag that’d so recently exploded in his face.

  Coming back to Everness and half living in this weird performance where he wasn’t really himself was only making bitterness dig deeper and deeper into him. Sometimes he imagined doing it—telling his dad, throwing it in his face—just to cut the final tie to the man who’d made his childhood one disappointment after another. But he couldn’t do that to his mom, not when she needed him.

  “You know the sheriff pretty well, then?” Jake asked as they resumed their walk toward his patrol car.

  “Family friend,” he murmured in return.

  “Small towns,” Jake commented with a smile and shake of his head.

  Now that he mentioned it, Danny knew everyone who worked in the Everness sheriff’s office and had never seen Jake before.

  “You must be new in town,” he said once they’d climbed into the patrol car.

  “Started two weeks back.” Jake turned over the engine and then backed out and around the other two police cruisers, before turning on the dirt road.

  “You moved to Everness?” he clarified, not quite able to believe it. Usually people moved away from Everness, not the other way around. “By choice?”

  Jake gave a laugh—low, deep, and kind of sexy. It made Danny take a second look at him and realize with a jolt in his chest that the guy was really hot.

  “There was a job opening and I took it. I’m from Dallas. I was looking for a change in pace.” There seemed to be a hitch to Jake’s words, and his expression took on a serious edge. But it was gone in another second as Jake cut him a quick smile. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”

  “Bet you’re regretting it now.” The four and a half years he’d spent living in Houston had been awesome. If he’d had a choice—if his mom hadn’t gotten sick—he would have stayed in the city, no doubt about it.

  “I’m definitely not regretting it today.”

  Danny turned to look at him in surprise, catching the way Jake’s gaze roamed over him, leaving his pulse skipping and his body warming. Was the guy actually flirting with him?

  He cleared his throat and turned his attention forward, no idea what to say in return. He’d only had one kind-of serious boyfriend in college, and that whole gaydar thing he was supposed to have continuously failed him. “If you take a right up here, the garage is on the next block.”

  He glanced at Jake, studying his profile as the guy concentrated on the road. The rest of the trip went by in silence. But it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. It was the kind of silence that held just a hint of anticipation, leaving Danny feeling like he was standing on the edge of a ledge and debating whether to jump.

  Chapter Two

  JAKE FOLLOWED Danny’s directions until they pulled up outside a garage with a faded sign reading Jones & Sons Quality Mechanics. It looked like it’d been put up in the 1950s and never updated.

  “Family business?” he asked as he cut the ignition and then unbuckled his seat belt.

  “Yeah.” There seemed to be a hint of bitterness to Danny’s voice. “My great-grandfather opened the shop in ’43, and it’s been here ever since.”

  He glanced over to see Danny looking at him, but when their eyes met, Danny’s gaze skipped away again. Shit. He shouldn’t have made that definitely not regretting it today comment. The guy had just totaled his car, found a dead body, and then narrowly avoided an explosion. Talk about epically bad timing to start flirting. But he hadn’t been able to help himself. Danny was gorgeous. Like, he’d forgotten how to breathe when he’d been kneeling in front of him on the dirt road and Danny had lifted his head to reveal his startling blue eyes.

  Danny had been pale and hyperventilating, his dark blond hair sticking out like he’d been running his hands through it. When they’d stood up, Jake had tried to get his head back into business and focus on dealing with the crash. The horrific body in the car had cured him of that pretty quickly. And then he’d smelled the gasoline, seen the flames, and realized with icy clarity that an explosion was inevitable.

  It’d been pure instinct honed in the Army that’d sent him tackling Danny to the ground, covering him a second before the blast had detonated over them. He hadn’t checked, but he was fairly certain he was going to find singe marks on the back of his uniform shirt from the tiny pieces of burning debris that had rained down around them after.

  He’d pushed up, intending to get straight to his feet, but Danny had been staring at him with wide eyes. After he’d asked if he was okay, he could have sworn something else had edged into Danny’s expression.

  Except then he’d heard the sirens closing in from the other patrol car and ambulance, and he’d sternly told himself it was definitely not the time or place to be getting sidetracked.

  But maybe he’d misread the situation. Because ever since he’d gone and slipped with that stupid comment, Danny had been avoiding his gaze and definitely seemed flustered. He started coming up with ways to apologize that wouldn’t make things more awkward, but Danny finally brought his attention back to him.

  “Thank you.” The words were halting, and he’d clenched his fist against his jeans at his thigh. “I’m pretty sure you just saved my life back there and that’s— It was kind of amazing, actually. So, thanks. I guess.”

  Danny then closed his eyes and shook his head, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like idiot.

  “Hey.” Before he’d thought about it, Jake had reached across the car and wrapped his hand over Danny’s tight fist. But Danny immediately relaxed his hand, and Jake found the tips of his fingers lightly stroking Danny’s palm. “I’ve seen some bad shit. I was in the Army before I came here and joined the sheriff’s department. That body was next-level messed up. You should be proud of how you handled it. I’ve seen seasoned soldiers go to pieces over less.”

  “No kidding?” Danny’s blue eyes searched his, as if looking for the truth. Once again, the thought that the guy was absolutely gorgeous consumed every other thought in his mind. But this wasn’t why he’d come to Everness. He couldn’t afford to get distracted by a handsome face.

  Dammit.

  “No kidding,” he repeated with a grin, confirming Danny’s question. Movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention, and he turned to see an older man stepping out of the garage.

  Danny inhaled a sharp breath and tugged his hand free of Jake’s grip, before quickly getting out of the car.

  “Dad—” Danny began as he slammed the door shut behind him. Mr. Jones looked pissed as he glanced at the patrol car and then back at Danny.

  “What did you do, Daniel?” Mr. Jones was asking in a tight voice as Jake climbed out of the car a little more slowly. He adjusted his utility belt as he stepped forward.

  Danny’s cheeks had gone red, but Jake couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment, anger, or a little of both. By the way he was clenching his jaw, it seemed the anger was winning. “There was an accident—”

  “Your fault, I suppose,” Mr. Jones snapped, yanking a rag out of his pocket and jerkily wiping oil off his hands.

  “Mr. Jones,” Jake cut in before Danny could say anything. He stepped closer to Danny, silently offering support, hoping Mr. Jones realized he wasn’t going to stand there and watch Danny get verbally roasted for something that hadn’t been his fault. “Danny was involved in a serious MVA. His truck was totaled, but Danny is lucky he walked away with only a few bruises. I could have easily been coming here to inform you he was deceased.�
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  Danny cut him a sharp look, but he kept his attention focused on his father, who looked suitably shocked.

  “He’ll need to give an official statement, but that can wait until morning. Until then, he was advised by the EMTs to get some rest,” he continued in the hardass voice he’d learned from the best of his drill sergeants in the Army.

  “Get on home, then. I’ve got work to do.” Mr. Jones sent Danny one last unimpressed frown before returning into the garage.

  Danny released a long breath, fists clenching as he glared at his father’s retreating back.

  “Will you be okay?”

  He didn’t know why the hell he was so concerned about a guy he’d met barely an hour ago, but for some reason, the thought of leaving him not okay didn’t sit very well.

  “He’s still going to think it was my fault, no matter what anyone says. But you probably saved me from the worst of it.” Danny looked up at him, expression tight. “It probably seems dumb, right, still getting reamed by my father at twenty-three? I don’t know what the hell it is about him, but ever since I got back from college, one glare from him and I’m like ten years old all over again.”

  “It’s family,” he replied with a shrug. “It happens.”

  He glanced at his patrol car. He needed to be getting on, but something kept him stuck to the spot. Because he didn’t want to just say goodbye and not see Danny again. Or, they’d probably see each other. It was a tinyass town after all. It’d be hard not to see him. But he hadn’t really connected with anyone since he’d moved here a few weeks ago. Not outside the sheriff’s office, anyway. Except he didn’t know if Danny would completely take it the wrong way if he asked him to catch up for a beer sometime at the town’s one and only bar. Besides, he hadn’t moved to Everness to find a boyfriend. In fact, it was probably the last kind of distraction he needed in his life right now. Still his mouth and his brain seemed to be on two different pages on the matter.

  “Listen, you want me to pick you up tomorrow when you’re coming in to give your statement? You are down a ride, after all.”

  One of Danny’s eyebrows went up in surprise, but he nodded. “Yeah, that’d be good. I mean, only if it’s not out of your way or anything.”

  He smiled, relived that Danny had so readily agreed. “Consider it all part of the friendly service from the Everness Sheriff’s Department.”

  At this, Danny actually gave a short laugh. “Can’t say I realized Sheriff Hayes was offering an Uber service these days.”

  “It’s my side thing.” He sent Danny a wink. “Being a deputy pays crap.”

  “Probably about the same as what I earn working for my dad.” Danny shook his head, like it was something he’d argued with himself about before.

  Jake’s radio squawked to life with a callout, and it was close by. Jessup Street. Probably Mrs. Jefferies’s cat had disappeared down a drain again. He answered to let the operator know he’d take it.

  “So, I’ll swing by a bit after nine in the morning?” He started backing toward the driver’s side door of his patrol car.

  “Sure. I’ll see you then.” Danny sent him a wave and then turned, heading toward the house that shared a side yard with the garage.

  Jake climbed into his patrol, watching as Danny easily vaulted the fence and then shoved his hands in his pockets as he strode toward the house. And when he realized he was staring after the guy practically drooling, he wanted to slap some sense into himself. Instead, he pulled away from the garage and went to retrieve Mrs. Jefferies’s cat for the third time in two weeks.

  JAKE GOT in early the next morning after spending most of the night tossing in his bed. When he hadn’t been thinking about Danny Jones and those damned blue eyes of his, he’d been turning over the crash and the dead body in his mind.

  Everness wasn’t a town that’d seen many murders in its history and probably none so violent. The sheriff had told him before he’d signed off yesterday evening that they were bringing in a detective from Conroe, which was the biggest town in the county, because Everness didn’t see enough crime to warrant having their own detective on staff. When Jake had gone home and thought about the big picture, he’d realized that Danny really had been lucky to escape alive. If he’d been knocked unconscious or trapped from the collision, he still would have been inside the pickup truck when it exploded.

  The worst thing about it was all the evidence lost when the sedan and body burned. It’d make the detective’s job that much harder to find out who had been responsible for the murder. And it had to be murder, not suicide. He hadn’t studied the scene too closely since he’d been more concerned about making sure Danny was okay, but the man had been stabbed at least two or three times. He’d seen people die violent deaths before, but this had been unusually messy. Like whoever had done it had been seriously angry or really wanted to make sure the poor bastard got good and dead.

  Though he hated to jump to conclusions and had planned to go about things clinically and logically when he arrived in Everness, in the back of his mind, he didn’t think it was a coincidence a town with barely any crime had suddenly seen a violent murder within weeks of him starting as a deputy. And if he was right, he needed to work out what he was going to do about it, or this murder might end up being the first of many.

  He was pouring himself his second coffee for the morning and thinking over it all again when Lieutenant Mullens stopped next to him.

  “What is that?” Mullens pointed to the rainbow pin he’d attached to his shirt collar that morning before leaving the house.

  “This Sunday is National Pride Day.” He finished pouring his coffee without even bothering to look at Mullens.

  “You’re…. Are you—” Mullens glanced around and then leaned in. “Are you actually gay?”

  Asked in the same tone of voice like someone saying do you have the plague?

  He turned to fully face Mullens, calmly snapping the lid on his coffee.

  “Yes, I’m gay,” he announced, loud enough for everyone in the small office to hear him. Unsurprisingly, they all stopped what they were doing to stare at the pair of them. “Have you never met a gay person before, Mullens?”

  The lieutenant had gone an interesting shade of red. “You can’t just flout something like that round these parts.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize Montgomery County was exempt from gay marriage being legal.”

  “It’s not that!” Mullens shifted back a step, like suddenly even standing near him was a problem. “Whatever you do in private, that’s your choice. But you don’t need to shove it in the faces of the good Christian folk who live in this community.”

  “I’m wearing a pin, Mullens. Not having gay sex in the town square.”

  A few people snickered, and though he hadn’t thought it possible, Mullens went an even deeper shade of red.

  “Is there a problem here?” The sheriff had come out of his office, and suddenly everyone made certain to look busy again.

  “Sir, I was just advising Deputy Perez that he needs to remove the pin from his shirt collar,” Mullens replied, drawing himself straighter.

  Hayes barely spared him a glance, staring at the lieutenant. “Why?”

  “Because it’s not appropriate—”

  “I seem to remember everyone wearing ribbons last month for breast cancer awareness. Was that not appropriate either?” the sheriff interrupted.

  Jake wanted to gloat, but instead he kept a straight face and sent Mullens an innocently questioning look.

  “Sir, it was different,” Mullens pressed. “It was raising money for—”

  “Perez, those pins, where does the money go when you buy one?”

  “This particular one goes toward suicide prevention for LGBTQI+ teens,” he answered.

  “Sounds good. Get one for everyone and charge it to the county.” With that, the sheriff turned and went back into his office, answering the phone that was ringing on his desk.

  Jake was biting his lip
over a grin as he walked away from Mullens, forcing himself not to glance back. It was hard not to—he wanted to see the expression on the guy’s face—but also, he didn’t want the lieutenant to think he was gloating. Even though he totally was.

  However, as he passed by the front desk on the way out to his patrol car, one of the civil administrators, Laura—who was probably the only person he was close to becoming friends with and already knew he was gay—held up her hand for a high five. She shot him a triumphant smile as he slapped her palm on the way past.

  He’d known moving to a small, predominantly white Christian town like this, he was probably going to face more friction over his sexuality than he’d ever gotten in Dallas. Still, he wasn’t going to hide or apologize for who he was. That was all other people’s damage. He had more than enough of his own demons keeping him awake at night.

  Chapter Three

  DANNY WAS wishing he’d stayed in bed as he waited on the sidewalk down from the garage. The inevitable round of yelling he’d gotten into with his dad over the pickup after dinner had resulted in an epic headache, and his skull was still pounding.

  Probably didn’t help that he’d then drunk three beers while brooding on the back porch about the shitfest his life had become until well after midnight and then not slept very well; all kinds of jagged dreams had disturbed him. They hadn’t exactly been nightmares, though he had replayed the crash and finding the body several times over. Probably the worst, though, was the final dream in which he’d found himself pressed underneath Deputy Jake Perez, who’d kissed him instead of getting up to walk away. He’d woken up sweating, tangled in his sheets, so hard he was almost aching.

  He’d stumbled into a cold shower and jerked himself off, trying really hard not to think about Jake but unable to stop himself. And now he had to face the guy and pretend like he hadn’t been getting off over him just an hour before. Idiot.