Where We Left Off - Romeo Alexander Page 0,3

there was someone out there meaner than me, but nice enough to knock some sense into me.”

Clay smiled gently, cutting through the celery. “I always liked Serena. Maybe that’s why.”

“I should go see her soon,” Tyler said softly.

Despite having been in Port Dale for Christmas, Tyler hadn’t been able to bring himself to visit his mother’s grave. A cancer she’d known about but had kept hidden from him had finally claimed her a few months after his eighteenth birthday. It had been almost three years since her passing, and the ache came and went. Sometimes he just missed her, and other times he was so bitter that she had kept everything from him.

Unsurprisingly, Clay had grown silent as he focused on chopping the rest of the celery and moved onto a large onion. While the man was typically capable of dealing with other people’s emotions, even if he was steady and controlled with his own, he grew quiet, as if uncomfortable, when the subject of death came up. Tyler assumed that the man probably had too much experience with death in his life, especially because he had no family or friends to speak of other than Elliot.

Well, there was someone else.

“How’s Mrs. Collins?” Tyler asked, breaking the silence.

Some of the tension bled from Clay’s shoulders. “Good. You’d think for a woman nearing ninety-six, she’d start to slow down a little bit. But even that heart attack last fall hasn’t slowed her down...well, not much. Been working out of that outreach center she loves so much for years and tells me she’s not going to stop until she’s dead.”

Tyler thought of the older woman and smiled. She had been important to Clay, a figure from his youth before...well, Tyler didn’t know what came after that actually. What he did know was that the diminutive woman managed to turn Clay into a soft pile of putty just with her presence. Tyler didn’t blame him though, she was strong but gentle, a bundle of warmth and joy all wrapped up in a tiny woman whose wrinkled face could light up a room with a smile.

“Not to drag down the mood again,” Clay said, setting the vegetables aside. “But are you going to tell us why you’re really here?”

Tyler shifted uneasily. “What do you mean?”

Clay looked askance at him. “Don’t think I didn’t notice how you avoided saying why you’re here. And before you get that hurt look on your face, you are always welcome here. I don’t care what happens, this is a place you can be safe and stay.”

“I know,” Tyler muttered.

And he did. From the moment he’d seen them again after the chaos of whatever had happened to them, Clay and Elliot had welcomed him into their lives as though he belonged. His mother had been wary of the two strangers, but she’d outright hugged Clay when she found out he’d been the one to kick Tyler’s ass before he could stumble his way into a life of petty crime. After that, they’d both been as much a part of his life as his mother had been for the decade and a half before.

They’d been the ones to help him get prepped for applying to different colleges. And in a roundabout way, it had been Clay’s interference in his life that had set Tyler on the path to becoming an FBI agent. Hearing that, Clay’s face had gone completely blank, but Elliot had laughed so hard Tyler had thought he was going to hurt himself.

They were his family, and this would always be his home.

Clay nodded, pulling another container out and cracking it open. “Good. Is it trouble you’re in?”

“No,” Tyler said quickly.

“Drugs?”

“Clay, Jesus, and have you kick my ass?”

“True. Ah, Jessica?”

Tyler grew quiet at the mention of his girlfriend, no, ex-girlfriend’s name. Clay glanced over his shoulder and nodded his understanding before pouring what looked to be homemade stock into a stockpot.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Tyler muttered.

“First love?” Clay asked gently.

Tyler hesitated, then shook his head. “No, I didn’t love her. But...I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Fair enough,” Clay said easily, setting the pot onto the stove and turning the flame on. “You can talk about it with Elliot if you want. I know you two do better with all those emotional things.”

Tyler winced. “It’s not…”

Clay snorted. “Yes, it is. I know, I’m shit at emotions, Elliot says it’s part of my charm, but I think he’s just blinded by love.”

“So are you,” Tyler said wryly.

“Yeah,