Free Stay With Me, Contemporary Romance (Last Frontier Lodge Novels Book 5) by J.H. Croix

Ryan’s gaze, his gut churning when he saw the worry held there. “What do you wanna do?”
    Ryan’s eyes flicked to his hands twisting the napkin and back to Eli. “Do you think maybe I could stay with you? I won’t be a problem. I’ll stay out of your way and work whenever you need some help.”
    Eli’s heart clenched. He knew just how Ryan felt. When he used to work on the docks in Juneau, he tried to work the hardest, so he could earn the option to work late—anything to keep him out of the house longer. Here Ryan sat in front of him promising to stay out of the way and more. It hurt to see him like this.
    “You can stay. If Dad’s there, I don’t want you there. But we’ll have to have a few ground rules.”
    Ryan’s mouth went slack. “Really? You’re not gonna make me go back?”
    Eli shook his head. “I need to talk to Mom first. If she won’t agree, I’ll take it to court. First though, those ground rules.” At Ryan’s nod, he continued. “You know, the basics: a reasonable curfew, letting me know where you are, asking if you want someone to come over, stuff like that. Think you can handle that?”
    Ryan nodded emphatically, his hair falling over his eyes as he did. “But what if Dad flips out?”
    Eli laughed bitterly. “There’s no ‘what if’ on that. He will definitely flip out, but I’ll deal with him. Don’t worry about it.”
    Ryan breathed a noisy sigh and kept twisting that napkin. “Did Dad hit you?” he asked, his question soft.
    Eli considered what to say and then mentally shrugged. If he tried to hide things from Ryan, he’d figure it out eventually. He nodded. “Yup. It got worse the older I got. When I was little, like you were when I moved away, he just yelled and avoided me mostly. Once I got old enough to talk back, that was it. We had a huge blow out one day, and I decided I had to go. All my life, I promised myself I wouldn’t become like him—a violent asshole. Not once, even in that big argument, did I ever lay a hand on him. But it was coming if I didn’t get out of his orbit. I took some of the money I saved up from working my tail off on the docks and charter boats in Juneau and gave him a choice. Either he moved out on my dime and stayed away, or I started going to the police no matter whether Mom wanted me to or not. He already had enough of a petty record, he knew he’d be cycling in and out of jail if I did that, so he moved into the apartment I rented for him. Mom couldn’t stand up to him, so I did. Just so you know, I don’t hold that against her. He beat her down for so long, it’s a damn miracle she wakes up everyday. I think she was relieved when I forced him out. To be honest, I’m surprised it took as long as it did for him to show up again. I’ve been paying his rent all along, so I’m curious to know where that went these last six months.”
    “He got evicted because he trashed the place one too many times. I didn’t hear that from him, but I heard Mom talking to him about it one night.”
    Eli closed his eyes and shook his head before pushing off his stool and stepping to the refrigerator to grab a beer. He took a swallow as he returned to his seat at the counter and eyed Ryan. “So, what was your plan when you left?”
    “I didn’t really have one. My friend invited me to go fishing with them, which I do all the time anyway. When we got to Whittier, they were planning to stay for two weeks, so I told them I wanted to come see you. They have no idea I hitchhiked down here. I figured if things didn’t work out with you, I’d find my way back to Whittier before they left.”
    “So how come you didn’t just tell Mom you’d be gone for a few weeks?”
    “Because I didn’t have a plan,” Ryan said with a roll of his eyes, his uneasiness fading. “I came home from school and Dad lit into me over something about the TV. I told him to fuck off and left. I called Mom on the way over to meet my friend.”
    Eli twirled his beer bottle