Real Men Knit(40)

“I wouldn’t quite characterize myself that way, Damian My Boy.”

She let out a breath. She didn’t quite want to address the whole innuendo of being Jesse’s overnight guest, but yes, she still felt she needed to explain things. It wasn’t like she could argue with Damian’s assumption when it came to Jesse.

“It’s no big deal really. Well, maybe it is. I hope it’s not. There was an explosion at my place last night and Jesse came to get me. Well, Lucas came first, when the fire department was called. And he let me crash here. Jesse, that is. I hope it’s okay that Jesse said I could use your room.” She was rambling. Why was she rambling when she’d clearly said it wasn’t a big deal?

Surprisingly, immediate concern came to Damian’s eyes. He grabbed her by the shoulders and looked up and down her body. “Are you all right? Was there a fire? You didn’t get hurt, did you?”

She lifted her arms and pushed his hands down. “I’m fine. As you can see. Thankfully it wasn’t as serious as that.”

“Yes, she’s fine. No need to be putting your paws all over her like that.”

The bass in Jesse’s tone had both her and Damian spinning toward Jesse’s voice.

In a flash Damian was back to his usual cool self, leaving Kerry wondering if the moment of kindness had ever happened and why Jesse was so weird. “You should talk. Paws? That’s funny coming from the original bear in the woods. Wasn’t it you I found with your hands all over her just the other day?”

Hold up. Kerry could tell he was about to go back to a potentially dangerous place and emergency breaks were in order. “You two plan on growing up anytime this year, or nah?” she said.

“I choose nah,” Jesse replied, and Kerry rolled her eyes, connecting for a brief moment with Damian.

He gave her a slight grin, then sobered. “Seriously, what happened?” he asked, but now that he’d assessed that she was fine, he had divided his attention and was going toward the small closet. When he opened it, Kerry wasn’t surprised at all to see his suits and dress shirts all perfectly aligned and in color-coordinated order. She hoped he’d find time to help them with organizing the shop half as well, because this closet was a dream.

“I thought you had your own place downtown?” she asked, her mouth working before her brain could stop it. She remembered too late that not even Mama Joy spoke about Damian and his downtown living situation. From what Kerry had gathered, Damian was half-secretive about it, which may or may not have had something to do with his roommate or sometimes bedmate being an older colleague at the financial firm he worked at. But who knew? Certainly not Kerry, and she didn’t have business opening her mouth to ask. She was the not-quite-Goldilocks who had slept in his bed without permission last night.

“I do,” he said, his words short and clipped, “but I still keep a few things here.”

She frowned but nodded anyway, vowing to stop the questions there.

But Jesse took no such vow. “Yet you’re so quick to want to sell off your ready-made storage unit.”

Way faster than Kerry and maybe even Jesse expected, Damian whirled on him. “Fuck you. You know I don’t think of this as a storage unit.” Damian stopped suddenly and let out a slow breath as if he’d surprised himself with his outburst.

Jesse stared at him. “I was just messing with you.” He shrugged. “Well, sort of. But still. I get it. I know the decisions are not easy for any of us, bro.”

“No, they really aren’t,” Damian said. “So how about you stop acting like it’s just about you and think about all of us?”

Kerry caught the thickness in the air that came with the weight of Damian’s words.

Jesse ran a sober hand over his face, and when he looked back at Damian, his eyes sparked with mischievousness once again, letting him and her know he refused to go there. “So, what is it then, why you here so early? You get into it with your sugar mama?”

Damian looked at his younger brother like he was about two seconds from beating his ass, but Jesse just laughed. Giving up, Damian turned to Kerry, she guessed refusing to give Jesse any more pieces in their little game of checkers. “I’m through with this one. Now come on, you didn’t tell me what happened with your place, Kerry.”

Kerry paused, first taking a moment to get her bearings, then glad for the chance to defuse the situation. “I don’t have all or any answers really. I think it was something with the building next door. Some sort of explosion, and then I had water gushing from my pipes and was told I had to get out along with the rest of the people in my building. They say it’s just a precaution because of the building next door. I should be able to go back today. I’m sorry for invading your space.”

Damian frowned, grabbed two suits and three shirts, and put them into a garment bag. “It’s no problem,” he said. “Not like I was using it.”

She wasn’t sure that it really wasn’t a problem but was glad Damian wasn’t too put out over her using his bed.

Kerry went down to the shop right in time to catch Val coming to the door. In impatient Val form, she was both ringing the shop bell and dialing Kerry’s cell at the same time. “What are you doing here at this hour?” Kerry said, letting her in. “After last night, I thought you’d be sleeping in. Besides, it’s your day off.”