Free Promise Rock 03 - Living Promises (MM) by Amy Lane Page A

enough, the sweet smell of desperate tobacco was there to remind him that he hadn't had his “daily” cigarette in about a week.
He tried to slow down as he took his first step, so as not to startle his quarry now that it had finally gone to ground, but Jeff, it appeared, was beyond being startled.
He was leaning back against the brick wall, one foot propped up behind him, staring into space as he deliberately inhaled and slowly exhaled into the grayness of high-clouded November.
“Get all changed and bag your clothes, Skippy?”
Collin bit back a scream of frustration. Old men, young men, he'd surely bagged his share, but none of them had made him feel like a little kid with such a few short words.
“You find your runaway homophobic teenager?” he asked, hoping his voice was back to normal. The ice pack had helped, and a few Motrin had relieved the swelling, so that, at least, didn't suck.
Jeff sighed and inhaled again, blowing out a thin stream of smoke in silence. “Nope, not yet. I'm hoping Kimmy and Lucas find him first— they're less likely to freak him out.”
Collin nodded, and decided to go for the fifty-thousand dollar question with the bonus set of steak knives and the new dinette set. “So, um, who's Kevin?”
Jeff looked at him sideways. “You have to know me better to know who Kevin is,” he said flatly, and Collin fought back a snarl.
“Well, you know who I am, right?”
Jeff's shoulders curled a little, and that insouciant, the worst has happened and I'm still alive posture lost some of its spine. “Yeah,” he said softly, looking at Collin from underneath dark lashes. “I remember. I'm glad to see you stuck around.”
Collin warmed himself in that soft, almost shy look. “You really saved my life that day, you know?”
Jeff shrugged, and his spine straightened. “You saved your own, kid. I just gave you an ear.”
Sudden shaft of brilliance. “Everyone needs an ear, Jeff. Even you.” Ooh… Collin, who usually scrubbed people raw with his Brillo personality, was damned proud of that one.
Jeff flicked the cigarette to the ground glumly. “You think I haven't told everyone chasing down my problem?” he asked, and there was no sign of a trill, no sign of the flamboyant flirt that Collin had seen coming into his mother's restaurant for the last year. There was just a tired man who seemed to be a little lost.
“Yeah, but you haven't told them what was in that letter that made that kid run.”
Jeff sucked in a hard breath and wiped his eyes with the heel of his hand. He grimaced and reached into his pocket for a small bottle of extra-spiffy hand sanitizer.
Collin wrinkled his nose. “Holy God—I can smell that shit from here. What in the hell is that ?”
Jeff sent him an affronted look. “White Citrus, from Bath and Body Works. Jeez, kid, not everyone gets off on grease-cutter and dish soap.”
Collin rolled his eyes. “Excuse the fuck out of me if I try to keep the „man' in „gay man', okay? Now are you going to tell me or not?”
Jeff's pocket buzzed, and he pulled his phone out and sighed. “Fuck. The kid's dis-a-fucking-peared. Goddammit. I gotta call Shane. He'll have some buddies who can look for him.” Jeff turned around to go inside, and Collin wanted to smack his head against the brick wall. He had him. He had him , right here, and he couldn't seem to get any closer than he had been in five years.
“Jeff!” he called, right as Jeff grabbed the swinging glass door. Jeff looked up, and Collin took a risk.
“Last time we did this, you gave me a hug that saved my life. Um, can I return the favor?”
The look on Jeff's face was… almost peaceful. It was like hugs were his language, and he finally had a chance to communicate. He barely bothered to roll his eyes as he opened his arms and gave the little wrist-flipping gesture to get Collin to come closer.
Collin was eye-level, and that obviously surprised Jeff, but Collin wasn't going to wait around for Jeff to be surprised. In