Hitman's Creed - 40

 

In the morning Miriam deemed Glenn well enough to spend the day on his own as long as he remained on the sofa. When he pointed out that he might actually need to get off it occasionally to use the downstairs bathroom, she called Harv to bring the pair of crutches he had from when he'd broken his leg a few years ago. After Harv brought them he took Joey, Miriam, and Mary back to town with him. He promised to bring them back in his tow truck once the coffeehouse was closed for the day, and take Glenn's car to the garage so he could repair it.

Left to his own devices, Glenn tried to read but after fifteen minutes he realized his mind wasn't on it. Television held no appeal to him, 'and I don't knit,' he thought with a rueful chuckle.

That left thinking about what was uppermost in his mind, Joey and whether there was a chance in hell of there being anything meaningful between the two of them. He was aware that given half a chance they could have a sexual relationship that would relieve their physical needs. And in a time well past, Glenn would have settled for that and moved on without a qualm.

'What the hell is it about this kid that makes that a no-go as an option?'

First he supposed he had to stop thinking about Joey as a kid. He was a young man, emphasis on the young but still a man in every way, not a kid anymore.

'Do I find him interesting because he is the only one around here who might be willing to return my interest? Am I so damned alone that I'll jump on any chance to have someone to keep me company? Damn I hope I'm not that shallow.'

But he wondered if he was so shallow that he'd use Joey for his own purposes because he knew Joey was infatuated with him—if it was just infatuation. And that still begged the question about his own feelings. He really did care for Joey, more than he had for anyone else he could remember.

'But you don't fall for someone after what, a few days, a couple of weeks?'

"I've just been without for too long. I need to find someone to fuck and get it out of my system," he muttered.

'But if that's true why haven't I taken advantage of what he seems to be offering? Because that's not what he's offering, stupid. At least I don't think it is but then how the hell would I know, I never asked. Well that ends this evening when he gets back here. If he comes back, which he might not. He'll have time to think about everything today, especially about what I did to his father, and how I did it. Hell he might just run the other direction now. Better for him if he does. Better for me.'

Glenn stared up at the ceiling. 'Or I run before we both get hurt.'

* * * *

Joey was doing his own thinking between bouts of waiting on customers. He wanted nothing more than to return to Glenn's house, the sooner the better, and was chafing under the need to be here and working. His mother had looked at him a few times with raised eyebrows and he'd just shrugged and gone back to what he had to do. But he couldn't get his mind off of Glenn.

'I do care for him, and I don't give a damn what he was before he moved here. That's in the past. He's a good man with a good heart or he wouldn't have helped us. I just have to make him see that I want him and want to be with him.' He smiled slightly at that. 'In more ways than one.'

With a shake of his head to clear it of the memories of his dreams involving Glenn that rose unbidden to the top of his mind, he returned his attention to the customer on the other side of the counter when they asked if he was out of whatever it was they wanted because he'd shaken his head.