Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 135792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
“Ros. He made all the sculptures you’re seeing around us.”
Sculptures. A vintage purple car. Ros clearly had an artistic personality.
Liv left the engine alone for now and squatted to assess the chassis. “When will I get to meet him?”
Shane gave a dark laugh. “I’ll consider it when you’re housetrained.”
Liv rolled his eyes but didn’t let Shane see it, because he and Knox were playing the long game, so there was no point getting worked up on day one. He took off his hoodie and stayed in a well-fitting T-shirt as he turned his back to Shane and opened the hood of the car. So maybe it was a weird thing to consider, but if looking hot could earn him some brownie points, he was ready to milk it.
“You’re not afraid he’s building them to one day take over the world?”
Shane chuckled, which was a sign that Liv managed to make a chip in his menacing wall of suspicion. “Nah, I’m more afraid one of the big ones falls on a dog, but I’m practical like that, so he can enjoy his fantasy world. Did you two leave any pets behind?”
Liv shook his head. “No. It’s just me and him. Nothing we had was important enough to risk going back. I’m happy our faces aren’t in every news outlet though. Maybe it’ll just quiet down with time.”
“What if it doesn’t? You in the market for new IDs?”
“Wow, you work at the junkyard, train dogs, and forge papers? That’s quite the portfolio for someone your age,” Liv said, going down the friendly compliment route. He needed this guy to like him if he was to stay out of prison and keep an eye on Knox in the long-term.
He had to move to the other side of the car to reach a different part of the engine, and he was pretty sure that when he faced Shane, the guy quickly looked away from his ass. Or Liv was just projecting. This whole gay thing was a minefield, and he was no minesweeper.
“I wish. But no, I just know a guy. He could even get you two a marriage certificate,” Shane said with a smirk as he exhaled smoke from a cigarette.
Liv chuckled, because that was ridiculous.
He and Knox worked so well together over the years, but while this new attraction put a new filter on every single interaction from the past, he was very far from contemplating things like marriage. Not because they’d only just kissed for the first time—something Shane didn’t need to know—but also because, well, marriage had never been something on Liv’s radar. Not once in his life had he been with a girl who made him feel like pouring all his savings into a piece of jewelry to then drop to one knee and risk his future on another person’s whim. He was free as a bird and there was no one in this world he wanted at his side forever.
But just as those thoughts passed through his mind, seemingly as fleeting as a summer breeze, his own words came back to him with great force. A sentence he’d said so many times.
It’s just gonna be the two of us. Me and you. Knox and Liv.
He’d always meant that, just not… in quite that way. But for Shane’s benefit, he chuckled. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
Shane cocked his head and passed Liv a wrench. “Not that sure of him?”
Cerberus joined Liv at the front of the car, wagging his tail and putting his front paws on the bumper, but his cute face could not ease the annoyance in Liv’s heart. Because who was Shane to judge someone else’s relationship? Especially someone whose rings looked more like knuckle dusters than a wedding band.
“I am. This is the person I’ll be swapping illness tidbits with when we’re both old and gray, and who will help me get out of bed when my back gives out. But what’s a marriage certificate if you can’t have the whole shebang, with a party and the best clothes I can afford? Besides, I haven’t proposed yet.”
There. Maybe that could gain Liv even more gay-sympathy.
Shane whistled, and the dog ran back to him. “Okay. I see. So you’re the one who proposes.”
Judging by his tone, there was a double meaning to his words. Good thing that Liv could fix this car in his sleep, because focusing would have been a struggle right now. But as he started tightening the cover that had gotten loose and might be the cause of the sounds Shane had described, it occurred to him that this was the perfect opportunity to gain information one-on-one. While it was embarrassing as hell to talk about private stuff with this stranger, Liv had leverage as long as his hands were on Ros’s car. So he’d take his sweet time.