Freedom (The F-Word #5) - E. Davies Page 0,31

decided to share. Jaden had handled everything else just fine. He of all people was aware that not everyone was tolerant. Great until the end. Guests made some trans bathroom jokes. Brought up a lot of old stuff for me.

Oh no :( Guess you can’t rub bananas all over them?

Henry clapped a hand over his mouth as he tried not to laugh. That made no sense, but it had cheered him up. What??? They aren’t paying me enough for that… or cute enough. I’d do it for you though. ;)

Jaden sent back a crying-with-laughter emoji. I mean aren’t mosquitos attracted to bananas? But TY, I’ll make sure I request bananas tomorrow. ;)

OH! Henry did laugh this time before he stifled it. No, they use enough Axe to attract the bugs all on their own.

Ew! Who are they impressing, the bears? Jaden asked.

Henry smiled. Even though his heart and hand still stung, he felt lighter now. There’s a gay joke in there somewhere.

After a long, exhausting day, he’d expected to be asleep within minutes, but time seemed to shift until it barely registered as he kept texting with Jaden. They went from joking about bears and leather daddies to talking about their days. Before long, they were planning what to cook together when Henry came over.

When Henry’s eyes tugged closed irresistibly, he managed to send a goodnight text with a heart. The last thing he remembered that night was beaming to himself when he got a heart in reply.

“How were they?”

It was always the first question Damien asked when Henry got back from a trip to the backcountry.

“Eh,” Henry shrugged, tossing the minivan keys on the desk. He’d already unpacked the tents to air out, and dropped the satellite phone off to charge. “Had better, had worse.”

Damien nodded. “Doesn’t sound great, though.”

“Typical guys,” was all Henry had to say.

Damien turned in his office chair to face Henry. The little office wasn’t much to see, but it served their purposes. None of them spent much time there, all preferring to be outdoors, but admin work got done here. It took up most of the back room of the cabin, and the rest of the space was where they gave introductions to day trips, greeted guests, and debriefed.

“You just say the word and we’ll ban ’em from coming back.” Damien sounded serious.

Henry waved a hand. “No way, man. It was nothing. They were all right.” Still, it warmed his heart that Damien was so quick to jump to his defense. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, after all.

But then Damien probably thought it was a homophobic joke or something. Would he be as quick if he knew it was about trans people? Or would he have laughed along?

Jesus, Henry would be a lot happier without all these thoughts nagging him.

Damien eyed him but let it go. “Great. Oh, so… I saw you don’t have anything booked for the next few days. You want a longer trip? I got a gay group, last-minute. Five of them, going out all weekend. I only need one guy. I thought I’d ask you first.”

Henry smiled to himself. He loved groups from his own community. And normally he loved spending as much time as possible outdoors. Overnight trips were nice, but rushed. They were so limited in where they could go when they had to be back within a day. But with time, he could wander wherever they might like.

Heading out for days at a time paid well and passed the time. But he’d never had something keeping him at home before. Especially in the last year, Henry had grown used to wandering.

Growing roots was a terrifying and new prospect for him.

“That’s sounding like a no,” Damien prompted, raising his brows.

Henry cleared his throat and rubbed his neck. “Oh. Sorry, I got distracted. Uh. Sure, I’d like that.”

“You sure?” Damien asked. “I think Trip said he’d be up for it too.”

“No, I can do it,” Henry firmly said. There was no point in avoiding it—Jaden would have to get used to him spending time away from him. Besides, they weren’t even officially dating.

Oh, man. He wanted to spend as much time with Jaden as possible. He was crushing hard. Maybe Trip was right about that U-Haul.

But could two guys as opposite as Henry and Jaden really click now that they were home, with all the cares of the world upon them?

It was time to find out.

11

Jaden

Jaden slammed the cupboard shut and thumped his head against it, bracing his