Dirty Laundry: A Tucker Springs Novel #3

hooked up at the laundromat.”
    El stared at him a moment, then barked in laughter. “Are you kidding me? For real? Jesus, after all the jokes?”
    That at least made Denver smile. Ever since El had met Paul, El and Denver had been joking about how Denver’s Mr. Right would walk into the Tucker Laund-O-Rama. “For real.” His smile faded a little. “Just a hookup, though.”
    “Still, that’s pretty funny. Your place or his?”
    “Uh.” Denver took another swig of coffee.
    El stared at him, then laughed again. “Your truck? How do you even maneuver in there? You barely fit to drive.”
    Why wasn’t this fun? Why wasn’t he leering and bragging? Denver didn’t understand. “Actually, it was in the laundromat.”
    “They finally disinfected that bathroom?”
    “ No .” Denver tugged at his hat and pulled it lower over his face. “Over a table. On my laundry. Which reminds me, I’m going to have to go back this afternoon and do another load.” When El stayed silent, Denver looked up at him, holding his friend’s probing gaze. “It was sexy as all fuck. And it shouldn’t have been. He was this skinny, rabbit-like thing being bullied by drunk frat rats. Cute, but way too scared to play as hard as I do, so I didn’t even have him on my radar. Then all of a sudden he was sitting in a dryer, spreading his legs, and I lost my head.” Denver slunk in his chair, which was starting to protest with serious alarm. He ignored it. “He’s a grad student, at East Cent, I assume. Studies pollinators or something.” His cock stirred. “Damn ass you could bounce a quarter off of, and when you slap it . . .” He lingered in a moment of lust, body responding in a more familiar, comfortable way as he recalled what it had felt like to plow that sweet furrow. When he emerged from his haze, El was still watching him, but he had a worrying, knowing smile playing around his lips. “What?” Denver demanded.
    “Nothing.” El sipped his drink, letting his tongue slip out to catch the foam from the rim.
    “The fuck, nothing.” Denver shot back. “What? You’re looking at me like you just caught me with my pants down and my dick all shriveled.”
    “Probably because I just did.” El set his coffee down and lazily stroked his dog’s head as she lolled in ecstasy. “I told you that you’d never meet Mr. Right in the bar.”
    Denver shot up so fast he nearly knocked his coffee over. “Get off. I fucked him over my laundry.”
    “Yeah. And you took me out to coffee to tell me about him. When was the last time you did that, buddy?”
    Never. He’d never sought El out to tell him about a trick. He slumped again. “Fuck.”
    El didn’t laugh, and his smile gentled. “It’s not the end of the world.” Denver looked meaningfully at the dog mop, which El had acquired because of his own Mr. Right. El grinned and leaned down to nuzzle his girl. “It’s not the end of the world at all.”
    Denver sipped his coffee as the October breeze blew around him, and he watched his best friend make out with his dog. He tried to tell himself El was wrong, that he wasn’t hung up on Bug Boy, that it had just been a weird hookup, that he wasn’t going to end up adopting a dog or a cat or something else fucking insane. That he wasn’t going to be the one rearranging his life for someone else.
    Even if, sometimes, he wanted to.

    After leaving El back at Tucker Pawn, Denver headed over to Tiny’s Gym for his regular Saturday afternoon routine, and after fifteen minutes at the free weights, he felt a lot better. When he left the gym two hours later, soaked head to toe with sweat, every muscle aching, he’d forgotten all about how hot Bug Boy had been and had almost forgotten how badly he wanted to hook back up so he could fuck that sweet little mouth.
    Shit, now he was thinking about Adam again.
    Denver thought about Adam so much he forgot he’d meant to stop at the store on the way home. He was out of just about everything, to the point that he wouldn’t be able to make himself an omelet. Grumbling, he got ready to turn the truck back around and head to his usual grocery when he saw the Super Walmart across the street.
    Bad idea , he warned himself.
    The warning made him angry, and he knuckled down, turning on his signal and heading into the department store’s parking lot. It was fine. It was just a store. They were all the same. He parked and stormed through the doors, grabbed a cart, and got ready to