#Junkie (GearShark #1)(36)

Especially Drew.

I wasn’t gay.

Except… maybe I was.





Drew

The day job was the actual equivalent to a soul-sucking grim reaper.

Every morning I got up and put on my dress pants and button-down shirts. I had a drawer full of ties with stripes and “professional” patterns. I hated wearing a tie. What was the point? Like a scrap of silk hanging around my neck was supposed to make me more capable of doing my job?

Felt more like a noose.

Some days when I got to work and the boss wasn’t there, I took it off and shoved it in my desk drawer. And every day, I wore my leather jacket on the drive to the office because at least it made me feel a little bit more like me.

It was getting harder and harder to get up every morning and go to a job I really hated.

Okay, to be fair, I didn’t hate the actual job. I didn’t mind messing around on computers. I was good at it. But doing it all day, every day, to the tune of someone else’s instructions?

Fucking torture.

I needed this job. It paid well, even for a basic position, not at some fancy company like my father wanted me to be at. That’s why I stayed. With the salary I was paid, I was able to cover the portion of the rent and shit at the house and still have a lot left over, which I could put into my car.

Granted, I probably wouldn’t have so much left for the car if I had to pay actual rent. Especially for a house like the one I lived in. A four-bedroom, two-story in one of the best neighborhoods in the entire state. We had our own gym, an updated kitchen, big family room with a fireplace, and a fenced-in backyard. The driveway was big enough for all our cars, and there was even room in the garage for me to store all the tools and shit I used on the Mustang.

‘Course, I wished I could park my car in the garage, but that’s where Romeo’s lime-green Hellcat was kept.

I wasn’t mad about it, though. The guy paid an entire year of the rent up front and then moved in the entire family (except Trent). The only thing all of us split was the utilities. So yeah, I was lucky because I had a lot left over for my car and shit.

I wasn’t sure how much longer we’d be living here, though.

Romeo and Braeden were building some big house they were calling a “compound.” It was a huge place with a wall around the entire property (which was several acres).

For realz.

Being they were both pro football players and now my sister had her own column with People magazine and a popular YouTube channel (all about fashion and girl stuff), the press never left them alone.

Soon as Ivy announced she was pregnant with my niece (a total surprise, by the way), the plans for the compound were moved up, because everyone agreed we all needed the privacy and the protection.

Rimmel, Romeo’s wife, had been through a lot of shit over the years, and Romeo was like a freaking lion with a den full of cubs when it came to protecting her. Even though they didn’t have kids, the press hounded her, following her around and sometimes staking out the animal shelter she ran just hoping for a picture of a “baby bump” she didn’t have.

Hell, even on pancake Sunday, it was getting hard to have a family meal because my family was a bunch of celebrities.

Soon as the house was done, this place wouldn’t be needed anymore, so I wasn’t sure where I’d go. I’d probably just rent my own apartment or maybe a one-bedroom house with a garage for my car.

I’d been putting aside money out of every paycheck so I’d have a decent amount saved for a deposit and shit.

I think Ivy assumed I’d be coming to the compound with her and the fam. I wasn’t sure that was in the cards for me. I didn’t want to impose on the couples. Sometimes I felt like a fifth wheel. Not that I’d ever say that to my sister. She’d give me a lecture.

I’d miss the baby, though… My niece totally stole my heart from the day she was born. I’d never been a kid person, but she wasn’t just a kid.

Nova had me wrapped around her tiny pink finger.

Sometimes I was on uncle duty with her so B and Ivy could get out and be alone. I liked it, though. She was a good listener, and unlike most women, she never gave me crap.

I figured that might change when she started talking, but I’d enjoy it while I could.

Maybe after Trent graduated, I’d see if he wanted to throw in on a rental with me.

He’d been quiet lately.

I’d barely talked to him since we got back from the meeting with Gamble. He texted to bow out of pancake Sunday, and I hadn’t talked to him at all the rest of the day. When I texted him this morning, he hadn’t answered, so I called.

Fuck how early the clock said it was. He always answered my texts.

I didn’t realize how uptight I’d been feeling until his gruff, half-asleep voice came on the line. Even if he was being a grouchy bastard, just hearing his voice relaxed me.

We didn’t talk long ‘cause he was still half asleep (and a grouchy bastard) and I had to go to work and protect my soul. I asked him if everything was okay. He said it was.

I wasn’t sure I believed him. Something was up. I wanted to know what it was.

I’d looked at my phone several times today. And the clock. I knew T’s schedule. We’d been friends long enough I knew his general daily routine. Every time I knew he was in between classes, at lunch, or likely not to be in the middle of something, I picked up my phone.