Chapter Twelve

“GO on out to the truck,” Thane said as they wrapped up with stage crew on Tuesday. He tossed Phillip the keys. “I’m going to stop at the bathroom. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Thane detoured by the restroom, took care of business, and headed out toward the parking lot where he’d left his truck. He’d just stepped through the outside doors when he heard shouting. He walked a little faster, because that sounded like Kit’s voice.

He rounded the corner in time to see Barnes wade into a group of boys and grab one by the ear. He couldn’t hear what Barnes said—he didn’t seem to need to raise his voice to silence all of them—but the boy caught in his grip grimaced and squirmed. Seeing Kit and Phillip hovering directly behind Barnes, Thane broke into a run.

“What’s going on?” he demanded when he got close enough to be heard.

Kit and Phillip retreated to his side immediately, but Barnes didn’t turn his head. “I’m explaining to these young men what is expected of athletes and gentlemen at this school and what the consequences of forgetting those expectations are going to be.”

Thane looked down at Kit and Phillip. “Are you okay?”

“Mr. B. stopped them before they could do more than shove us a bit,” Kit said softly.

Thane looked back toward Barnes. He had let go of the one boy’s ear, but he hadn’t released any of them from his gaze. “I’m going to ask you one more time,” he said, voice even, but Thane heard the steel beneath the tone, steel he hadn’t realized existed until now. “Why did you shove Kit and Phillip?”

Silence greeted him.

“Nothing? That’s fine. I don’t need you to say anything. I saw what happened and that you were the ones who started it and that Kit and Phillip did nothing to provoke it. But nothing is all you’re ever going to say to them again,” Barnes went on. “Because if I hear even a whisper that you approached Kit or Phillip for any reason, I will have you all suspended from school and from athletics. As it is, you’ll be in in-school suspension and ineligible to practice or play for the next three weeks.”

The offenders moaned and protested, but Barnes silenced them with a look. “Are you adding insubordination to your offenses? Because I’d be happy to add to the time if that’s what’s going on.”

“No, sir, Mr. Barnes,” one of the boys—Thane couldn’t see who—said.

“That’s what I thought.” Barnes took a step back and turned toward Thane. “Mr. Dalton, it’s your nephews they were harassing. Are you satisfied with the consequences they’ll be receiving?”

Thane stared at Barnes mutely for a moment, trying to reconcile the decisive man in front of him with the hands-off nonleader he was in the theater. “They’re fine, thanks to you. Your decision seems fair.”

His voice sounded off to his own ears, but he couldn’t do much about that. Barnes turned back to the bullies who had made Kit’s life miserable. “I will be notifying your parents this evening. You are to report directly to ISS every morning. If you do not, you will be charged with trespassing and removed.”

“But the baseball scouts will be at the games next week.”

“You should have thought about that before you tried to pick a fight,” Barnes said. “You’re aware of the expectations of behavior for student athletes. Every one of you signed the code of conduct before you were allowed to put on a Henry Clay jersey. You’ll be lucky if the coaches let you back on the field after your mandatory suspension is over. And just in case you have teammates who share your opinions on the matter but who didn’t happen to be here today, I want something made very clear. Kit and Phillip are under my direct supervision, and if anything happens to them, I will find out who did it, and I will make the perpetrators sorry they ever thought about it. Am I clear?”

The menace in Barnes’s voice should not have been the least bit attractive, but right at the moment, Thane had never heard anything more arousing in his life. He’d been ready to write off his fleeting interest in Barnes after seeing him at the club a little over a week ago, but this… this was something entirely different. This was Barnes standing up for his boys, defending them in ways Thane would never have imagined he would be willing to do. This was Barnes claiming them as his, wrapping his mantle of authority around them to protect them. It wasn’t the way Thane would have defended them—his way would have involved fists—but the boys in front of Barnes looked plenty cowed. And even if they forgot at some point, Barnes would be there to remind them. Whatever doubts Thane had on that matter had been thoroughly put to rest.

“Yes, sir.”

“You have five minutes to get off campus before I call security.” Barnes planted his hands on his hips and waited while the boys scattered. Thane stayed where he was, watching with barely contained impatience as Barnes continued to stand as a barrier between them and the disappearing athletes. Only when they were gone did he turn around.

The moment he moved, Kit and Phillip bolted toward him, throwing their arms around him. “You were amazing, Mr. B. I thought he was going to pee his pants when you grabbed his ear like that,” Phillip said. “Did you see that, Uncle Thane?”

Thane took a step forward to join them. “I saw it. Very impressive, Mr. Barnes. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

Barnes shrugged. “I would have done it sooner if it wasn’t Kit’s word against theirs. They can’t deny it this time, not when I saw them myself.”

Thane hadn’t seen what happened—probably just as well since he couldn’t punch them the way he would have when he was in high school—but he didn’t need to have seen to guess. It didn’t matter, though. Barnes had beaten him to the boys’ defense, no matter how satisfying Thane would have found it to punch them all. Barnes leveled the boys with a fond look. “Take your uncle home, boys. Kit has a science test to study for, if I’m not mistaken.”

“I’m ready for it, Mr. B.,” Kit said. “I’ve been studying all week. It’ll be another A for sure.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” Barnes ruffled their hair each in turn. “Have a good evening. I have parents to notify. I’ll see you at stage crew tomorrow, boys.”

“Night, Mr. B.,” Kit and Phillip chorused. They started toward the car, leaving Thane alone with Barnes.

“Thank you,” Thane said again. “I know we didn’t get off to the best start, and I know a lot of that was because of my attitude, but you’ve done exactly what you said you’d do.” He offered his hand. “Friends?”

Barnes shook it with a rueful smile. “Friends.”

Thane smiled all the way home.

BLAKE let himself back into his office and flopped down in his chair with a heavy sigh. His heart still hadn’t stopped racing from the adrenaline of breaking up the almost fight and then dealing with the bullies and with Thane.

Friends.

Thane wanted to be friends.

What was that supposed to entail? Blake couldn’t even begin to imagine how he was supposed to navigate those rocky waters. They had nothing in common except Kit and Phillip. And the fact that he’s gay, the annoying voice in the back of Blake’s head whispered.

Blake pushed that thought aside. It didn’t matter if Thane was straight, gay, bi, or something else entirely. He was the guardian of two of Blake’s students. He couldn’t get involved with Thane beyond the boundaries of a professional relationship. Maybe they could manage friends, but even that ran the risk of crossing a line and calling into question Blake’s impartiality. Tonight there hadn’t been any question. He’d seen Kit and Phillip come out of the building heading toward the parking lot. He’d seen the bullies change direction to come toward them. He’d already been moving toward them when the ringleader pushed Kit, nearly knocking him down. The taunting hadn’t gone beyond trying to get Kit and Phillip to fight back, which they hadn’t done, fortunately, before Blake had gotten there to intervene, so it had been cut and dried.

He hoped he’d put an end to it, now that the bullies had been caught and punished, but he wouldn’t know that for sure until after they were out of ISS and back in the student body. If they started up again, Blake would act, but he needed to be able to do so unhindered by questions about his relationship to the boys. In some ways being their stage crew sponsor already crossed lines, but he didn’t regret that for an instant. Having any kind of relationship with their guardian outside of school would complicate matters even more.

And yet….

All he had to do was close his eyes and Thane’s face floated into his mind. He had hints of gray at his temples now, silver woven into black with his hair pulled back into a ponytail at his nape. Blake wondered what it would look like out of its confines, falling around his shoulders. Even in high school, Thane had almost always worn it pulled back. He hadn’t worn a beard in high school, another change from Blake’s memories. His beard covered his chin and jawline but did nothing to hide the line of them, neatly trimmed as it was. If anything, it drew attention to his cheekbones and eyes, adding strength to his features. Or maybe time had done that rather than the beard. No matter how much Blake had thought of Thane as grown up in high school, he’d only been eighteen, still more boy than man in hindsight. None of the boy was left now, just man. He didn’t think anyone had caught him watching, but he’d seen Thane moving lumber, flats, even platforms on set. He’d drunk in the sight of his thick muscles flexing beneath the T-shirts he wore while working despite the temperature outside.

He shook himself out of his daydreaming. He had work to do before he could go home, and it was already after six. The thought of going home to his apartment didn’t appeal at all, but he didn’t go out on work nights. Maybe Heidi would want to grab takeout and come over. She’d be a good distraction, if nothing else, although she’d probably see right through him. No, he’d be better off eating alone.

He wondered what Thane and the boys were doing for dinner. He could easily imagine them crowded into a kitchen somewhere, having a family dinner. It would be loud, even a little boisterous, but his comment to Thane about how much the boys looked up to him had only grown truer over the past few weeks. They adored their uncle, and from the way Thane had come running tonight, it was clearly mutual.

Damn it, why did Thane have to be perfect underneath his initial surliness? It made Blake want to forget propriety and throw caution to the wind.

None of this was getting him any closer to being done and going home. He grimaced and booted his computer back up. He wasn’t looking forward to the phone calls, but the sooner he got them done, the sooner it would be over and he could move on to other things.

Like figuring out how to be friends with Thane without jeopardizing anything else.