Vulnerable [Suncoast Society] (Suncoast Society #29)

Vulnerable [Suncoast Society] (Suncoast Society #29)

Tymber Dalton





Chapter One


Sparks flew, making the three men gathered around watching wince and turn away while the welder worked on the boat trailer frame. Aluminum wasn’t Leo Cooke’s favorite metal to work with. Not by a long shot.

He was doing it more as a favor to Keith than for the money. Keith had been good to him over the years, steering a lot of work his way even when it didn’t make Keith any money personally. The least he could do was give it a shot when his friend called him to do an emergency job for him.

Well, for the marina, not for Keith personally.

Leo finally finished the first weld and pushed up the face shield on his helmet to examine his work. “I’m not going to promise this won’t break again,” he warned. “Even after I finish this, you’re going to want to drill some holes and bolt a plate over it for extra strength.”

“I know,” Keith said. “A couple of guys are getting that ready. If this wasn’t an emergency, and if the guide didn’t need his trailer today, I would have tried to find him a loaner or a rental trailer. But he’s fishing a tournament over in Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow and needs it.”

“Okay. As long as you understand.”

“Oh, I made it perfectly clear to the guy.”

Somehow, the guy had managed to not dump his boat and trailer when he’d been forced to swerve off the Interstate and onto the right-hand shoulder to avoid a truck that veered into his lane. But the sudden drop-off at highway speed had been too much for the old trailer to take, putting a dangerous crack in the frame that wouldn’t stand anything more than very slow towing over very smooth roads, even without the extra strain of a couple of thousand pounds of boat and outboard engines and a tank full of gas.

Leo stared at the trailer. “Honestly? He needs a new trailer.”

“He knows that, but he usually doesn’t trailer his boat. He stores it in one of our high-and-dry racks and we pull it for him. He was on his way home with it this morning in preparation for this weekend. He immediately turned around and limped back here with it.”

“Lucky for him. Let me build this up a little bit more and then we’ll see where we’re at.”

“I really appreciate this. If you need to charge an emergency rate or something, the guy understands. He just needs it safe for leaving today and getting it home Sunday night.”

“Make sure he understands to take it slow and easy. I wouldn’t take it on the Interstate. Just in case.”

“He’ll be careful.”

Leo sharply nodded his head and the face shield dropped back into place so he could start again. An hour later, he wasn’t exactly happy with the weld, considering it was a patch job, but he’d written a disclaimer on the work order that he couldn’t guarantee how well the patch would hold under stress, and that he would not warranty the work.

The customer had already signed off on that before Leo had even unloaded his equipment, so his ass was clear as far as he was concerned. When he started loading his gear into his work van, two guys from the marina were scrambling to get the two steel plates they’d already prepped positioned on either side of the frame rail so they could mark and drill holes to bolt them on.

Fortunately, the weld was near the front axle. Had it been located closer to the trailer’s tongue, he wouldn’t have even tried to make the repair due to the flexing and stresses it would have taken there.

Keith led Leo up to the office so they could cut him a check for the repair. The customer had already left to go run some errands.

“So…how you doing?” Keith asked.

Subcontext shot deep through Keith’s question like the Mississippi River running well over flood stage.

“I’m…dealing.”

“How’s Laurel handling things?”

“As well as can be expected. How’s Noel doing?”

From the way Keith’s eyebrow arched, Leo knew his friend had spotted his not-so-subtle attempt to turn the conversation away from his own life.

“Her morning sickness is finally starting to ease up,” Keith said. “She might be able to come back to work full-time in a few days.”

“Everything look okay with the baby?”

“So far, so good.” He patted Leo on the shoulder. “Things will get better. I promise. It might not seem like it now, but they will.”

“I hope so. I’d say they couldn’t get much worse, except I know how wrong that is.”

Keith snorted. “True. Don’t ever say that.”

With a check in hand, Leo headed back to his van. He’d known Keith for several years, ever since Leo had started doing work for the marina.

And he’d seen the changes for the better in Keith when he got involved with Noel and Scott. Keith was a no-nonsense kind of guy. No, he didn’t flaunt his poly lifestyle around in front of unsuspecting people, but he didn’t tolerate any shit from anyone who didn’t approve of it, either.

Poly wasn’t for Leo, though. He only wanted one partner. It was going on nearly six months since he’d moved out and filed for divorce, and their divorce wasn’t final yet. His soon-to-be ex didn’t want to be divorced.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t blame her for that, and he tried to be understanding when she flowed hot and cold emotionally throughout the process.