Promises Part 1 (Bounty Hunters #1)(41)

Duke stayed composed. Boy, huh? “Yeah. I got a job. A pretty thriving business. I’m thinking of firing a couple employees soon, though.” Duke grinned evilly.

“Okay, enough about employment.” Quick feigned nervousness. He knew damn well that Duke would never fire him. Quick and Judge both were practically co-owners.

“What are your intentions with my son, Mr. Morgan?”

Duke shrugged nonchalantly. “I don’t know yet.”

“You don’t know!” Quick barked. “Damn. I thought you were gonna say you were getting ready to propose right before I came in.”

“Propose.” Duke choked on his tea.

“Heck yeah. Damn, Duke. What the hell does my son have to do, man… give you a fuckin’ kidney?”

Duke dropped his head into his hands as Quick and Vaughan had a good laugh at his expense. “So how long have you two been working on that joke, huh?”

“It’s all mine. I thought of it a few days ago,” Quick said humorously. “Was a pretty good one, wasn’t it?”

“Whatever,” Duke muttered. “You gonna be here all week with that act?”

“Now. On to more important shit. One: What the hell are you doing out of bed? Two: How did you find out?” Quick demanded as he rattled around pots and pans, looking for a specific one. When he found his griddle, he placed it over two of the gas range’s burners and turned on the flame, placing some raw chicken breasts on it.

Vaughan stood behind Duke, rubbing his shoulders. He hadn’t realized they’d slumped with fatigue until his boyfriend put his hands on them. Boyfriend. Wow, that was fast. He wanted to bask in the attention, but it felt bizarre with his friend in the same room. He tapped on Vaughan’s hand and he lowered his head, kissing Duke gently on the cheek as he did. “Babe. It’s a little weird doing this with your dad in the room, don’t you think?”

“No.”

“Yes.” Quick jumped right in, flipping the chicken breast, his back still to them.

“I told you,” Duke confirmed.

Vaughan went to his father and clapped him a couple times on his shoulder. “He’s not uncomfortable. Are you, Dad?”

“Little bit,” Quick deadpanned.

Duke laughed. That was Quick’s sense of humor at its finest and Duke loved it. Always had. It wasn’t slapstick or ironic comedy, simply that impassive, matter-of-fact, dry wit. They were best friends, and now they were… they were… they were something special. He was Quick’s best friend and hopefully one day, his son-in-law. They were a modern family to say the least.

“Judge told me,” Duke finally confessed.

Vaughan and Quick exchanged confused looks before looking back to him to elaborate. “Judge’s boyfriend, Austin, saw you at the hospital when you went in for your check-up earlier. He’s a detective. From what I heard, a pretty good one. He easily put two and two, ya know.”

“Damn,” Vaughan whispered.

“Well thank goodness. I was sick of the ducking and dodging anyway. Flittering around lying and covering up your tracks, boy,” Quick grumbled, pointing at his son. “Next time, Vaughan, you’ll handle your own skeletons. I’m a grown ass man.”

Duke and Vaughan both huffed and stood up to leave Quick to his one-man rant. He did make a mental note to have a good, long conversation about his friend’s sexual orientation soon, because he had a feeling that it may have altered a bit. Duke hadn’t forgotten that look in Quick’s eye when he argued with the doc.

“Duke come in here and get comfortable on the couch. We were gonna watch a movie while we eat dinner,” Vaughan said, taking his palm in his.

“Well, I don’t want to intrude. That’s gonna be important to me. You and your dad need time together. He’s missed you something terrible and I don’t want—”

Vaughan placed his index finger over Duke’s lips to silence him and he immediately obeyed. Vaughan groaned and inched in closer, his shirt now half buttoned back up. Duke couldn’t help but drop his eyes to Vaughan’s soft, pinkish lips. “What about what I need? About what I want?”

“I’ll do anything you want,” Duke whispered, and his immediate compliance didn’t have a damn thing to do with his recently discovered intel on the origin of his new kidney. He’d felt like that from the moment Vaughan turned up the heat on them.

“Good.” Vaughan grinned. “Stay and eat. Relax. Then come to bed with me.”

Duke grimaced, looking over his shoulder. “Not in your father’s house. Not cool at all. Besides. My medicine is home. I can bypass a pain pill but I can’t skip my immunosuppressants.”

“I’m sure Dad wouldn’t mind picking them up for you.”

“I’m not sleeping with you here, with your old man only a few feet away. I respect my friend too much to do that.”

Vaughan wrapped his arms gently around Duke’s waist, careful not to apply too much pressure on his ribs. He leaned in and kissed Duke first, before pressing their foreheads together. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’m not gonna make love to you tonight. Not until we’re both feeling better and healed. I couldn’t take that sweet ass like I’d want to, so I’m gonna wait patiently like I’ve been doing. Right now, you being alive is enough for me. Plenty.”