Trust in Me - Quinn Ward Page 0,7
in his backpack, even if he doesn’t know it.”
“It’s not like that,” William insisted. “And, seriously, a few hours aren’t long enough to proclaim him as off-limits. For all I know, he might hate me for putting him on display tonight. He could decide it’s all too much for him.”
“The two of you weren’t bullshitting about him being brand new?” Levi asked, his eyes wide. I snickered because he was speaking what I was thinking. “Shit, man, you’ve got a natural on your hands.”
“Yes, Levi, but we all know that those who are little to the core are also the ones who sometimes fight it the hardest.”
“Well, I hope it works out for you.” Levi stood, bumping his fist against William’s shoulder. He paused, looking down at the boy Corey was playing with. “I hate to break up their playdate, but it’s well past my boy’s bedtime. If things work out, why don’t you give me a call and we’ll get him and Teo together again sometime?”
“I think Corey would like that, but it’ll depend on getting him to take some downtime.”
“If anyone can lay down the law, we all know you’re the man to do it,” I told him. The lights flashed and the music cut off, signaling closing time. I’d hung around hoping Sam would find me again, but obviously it wasn’t meant to be. That was fine; I was willing to bide my time with him after seeing the faint glimmer of interest. “Guess that’s our cue. Do you guys need any help cleaning up?”
“Nah, I think we’ve got it.”
As if conjured by my thoughts, Sam appeared in the doorway. He’d finally shed the worry from earlier, and he looked happy but ready to fall over from exhaustion.
“Everything okay out there, Sam?” William stood, leaning back to stretch. He groaned and I had to fight the urge to make a crack about him being an old man.
“Yeah, I was just…” Sam’s gaze drifted to the boys who were still playing on the floor.
“Do you need to unwind for a minute? You’ve been running around all night. You must be exhausted,” I asked, already crossing the room to Sam. If we didn’t have an audience, I would have taken him by the hand and forced him to relax for a few minutes. “I bet the boys wouldn’t mind playing for a few more minutes.”
Sam shook his head. “Thank you, Sir, but I have too much work left to do.”
I slid my hand around to the small of Sam’s back. “Let us worry about that, boy. You need to sit down before you fall over.”
William pursed his lips to keep from laughing as I urged Sam to play with Corey while we cleaned up. And yeah, so I might have almost told him ‘the Daddies’ were going to clean up, but I’d caught myself before making a fool of myself. I turned back when I reached the entrance to the playroom, winking at Sam when he gave me a sleepy smile.
“Something I should know?” William asked as we wandered through the bar—him picking up glassware and me collecting empty bottles. There wasn’t much to clean, which was shocking with as busy as it had been.
“Nope, just thought I’d help out. He looked ready to fall over,” I pointed out. William tossed me a rag from the wash bucket, and I started wiping down tables. William followed, putting up the stools. “Not going to lie, I’m interested, but that’s as far as anything’s gone. I’m not even sure if the feelings are mutual.”
“If it makes you feel any better, Sam wouldn’t have listened to you if there wasn’t a spark there. But he’s guarded. If you try to move fast, you’ll spook him.”
“Good to know. Slow won’t be an issue,” I promised him. William followed me to the front door, unlocking it so I could get out. I pushed the door open, then turned back. “Any other tips to help me stack the deck?”
“Yeah, don’t expect anyone to make this easier on you.” I flipped William off and he chuckled. “Seriously though, you need to tread carefully. Jack has a way of hiring complicated boys, and Sam’s got things he doesn’t share easily. If you’re not willing to stick by him once you learn who he is, walk away now.”
Well, that didn’t sound ominous at all.
William held up his hand to silence me before I could reflexively say there was nothing about Sam that could scare me away. “I’m serious,