Free Cleats in Clay by Jackson Cordd Page B

answer honestly?”
Bobby started to say something flippant, but he glanced over at Odis and saw the serious look on his face. “Well, I guess it depends on the question.”
“Oh.” Odis sighed in disappointment.
“Not that I don’t want to be honest, but it may be something I don’t have an answer for.”
Odis looked up at Bobby.
Bobby glanced down to the pipe in Odis’s hands. Nathan had always accused him of being a control freak. Maybe Nate and Odis were right. Maybe he did need something. He reached out for Odis’s hands.
Odis relinquished the pipe and lighter.
Bobby put the stem in his mouth and took what he thought would be about a medium-sized hit. That warm, spicy flavor danced in his mouth and nose. He handed the pipe back to Odis.
Odis watched Bobby’s face. “You don’t do this very often,” he commented, holding up the pipe in gesture.
“No, don’t really do much of anything. Am I that obvious of a lightweight?”
“Yes.”
“Damn. I thought I had that party-boy image nailed,” he teased.
Odis chuckled and waited. He wanted Bobby to hit that mellow glow.
Bobby looked at the pipe again. “John said something about you grow your own?”
“Yeah.” Bobby reached out for the pipe again, but Odis clutched it close. “No, I don’t want you getting silly on me again.”
“Silly?” Bobby sat back. “Not me.”
“Like a teenage girl, you were,” Odis said, sounding strangely like Yoda.
Bobby lay back on the bed. His mind… it was hard to define. It was like it was getting warmer somehow.
Odis smiled. “Now, back to that question.”
“There’s been lots of questions.” Bobby rubbed his face with his hand. “Which one?”
“What’s waiting for you back home?”
“Oh. There’s the house… then there’s lots of legal details, and….”
“That’s it? Just a house and a bunch of lawyers?”
“Oh! Sharon’s there too.”
“Who’s Sharon?”
“She’s a friend. Well, more Nate’s friend. She’s my friend too, though, I guess.”
Odis pulled his knee onto the bed and turned to face Bobby. “Anything else? Anyone else?”
Bobby shook his head in a vaguely negative way.
“What about your family?”
“Family sucks,” Bobby declared. “And they’re in Ohio anyway.”
Odis paused. He was definitely curious about those family details, but he’d save that for a later conversation. “Okay, let me lay this out and make sure I got it all.”
Bobby nodded as he stroked his hand across his face. “Okay.”
“So what you have waitin’ for you is a friend of Nathan’s that’s your friend by proxy, a big and empty house full of Nathan’s memories, and legal proceedings having to do with Nathan’s illness and death.”
Bobby scowled under his hand. “Bastard.”
“Did I leave anything out?”
“No, that’s just a nasty way to put it.”
“Is it not the truth?” Odis studied Bobby, waiting for an argument. “That’s the bottom line, though, right? There’s nothin’ there that isn’t tied to Nathan somehow.”
Bobby sighed.
“Then why are you in such an all-fired hurry to get back there?” Odis asked bluntly.
“Because….” Bobby shook his head. “I don’t know. ’Cause it’s home?”
“Maybe it used to be home.”
Bobby sat up and looked at Odis. “It is still home.”
Odis just met his glance without saying anything.
“It is ,” Bobby defended. “What’s your point in bringin’ all this up, anyway?”
“No point, exactly. I just wanted ya to think it through instead of falling back on instinct.”
Bobby could feel his buzz fading. He looked over at the pipe in Odis’s hands. “Okay, I thought about it.”
Odis offered the pipe again. “Just don’t get carried away.”
Bobby took another medium-sized hit. As he held the breath, he noticed a familiar lime zest flavor among the spiciness. It was a faint taste he remembered from Odis’s precome. He handed the pipe back to Odis and lay back on the bed again.
Odis took another hit, then put the pipe on the