Dirty Laundry: A Tucker Springs Novel #3 by Heidi Cullinan Page A

which he took back to the storeroom to hang up once he arrived at Lights Out. When he came out into the main room, Jase was manning the bar for the spotty afternoon crowd. Jase took one look at Denver and glared, folding his arms over his chest.
    So, New Boy Kevin hadn’t wasted any time with his gossip. Denver chuckled and tipped his hat forward in a salute as he straddled a barstool. “Afternoon, boss.”
    Jase rolled his eyes and leaned on the bar after he passed Denver a tall glass of tap water and a bowl of popcorn. “I hope you at least disinfected the table after.”
    Whatever. Denver grinned around the rim of the water glass. “You can dock my pay for the half hour if you want.”
    “What’s this?” one of the customers demanded. It was Rob, an older gentleman who Denver was pretty sure used to teach at Tucker University. He had no hair left but a ring of gray and a wispy white tuft in the back that stood straight up, making him look like a wrinkled elf. A wicked one at the moment, as his dentured grin and gray rheumy eyes were lit with hope of scandal.
    Jase jerked a thumb at Denver. “The Hulk here left his shift at one to go fuck the living hell out of a twink in the storeroom last night. Kevin saw the kid sprawled on the table, legs spread, Denver going to town on his cock.”
    “Wish I’d seen it,” a second old man said. He looked almost wistful.
    “Next time I’ll tell Kev to take pictures. Maybe I should take Den off the door and hire him to do peep shows with his tricks.”
    Denver laughed and played along with the ribbing, but when Kevin showed up at eight and Jase went back to his office, Denver followed and hung in the doorframe until Jase looked up at him.
    “Hey, Jase—could you do me a favor?” He jerked his head at the main room. “If Adam—the guy I had in the storeroom—comes back in, could you save your ribbing for me and spare him?” He wanted to explain why, but he didn’t have the words, so he left it at that.
    Jase’s eyebrows went up. “Damn.” He smiled. “So there really was somebody you wanted a day off for, huh?”
    He didn’t take the teasing bait, because this was important. “Adam’s kind of special.” He realized that made it sound like Adam was thick in the head or something and frowned. “I mean, he’s smart as fuck. He’s a grad student studying moths. But he’s—” He cut himself off, lost again. Not shy. Skittish? Goddamn, this was why he stuck to weights.
    “Special to you,” Jase finished for Denver. He smiled now, looking almost amused. “I get it. You might want to talk to Kevin, though. He really enjoyed spreading your story.”
    “Story’s fine. I just don’t want anyone making Adam uncomfortable, because it’s easier to do than you think. But yeah, I’ll tell Kevin to give Adam space.”
    “Your boy coming back tonight? Because much as I don’t mind your backroom adventure this time, I’d prefer you kept your extracurriculars to your house during personal time, as a general rule.”
    Denver grimaced at that. “Yeah. That one’s got a weird kink in the details, but I’ll work it out.” He remembered his fear someone had hurt Adam and went stony.
    Jase gave him a funny look, then shook his head and waved him away. “Go man the door, Denver. Oh—and by the way, you’re clear for Sunday.” He winked. “For your picnic.”
    Denver grunted and left, but he didn’t flip Jase off this time.
    It wasn’t a bad night—Thursday nights were frat boy night by some official decree, drawing the gay house at Tuck U and the stragglers from the other houses at both campuses. It always blew Denver’s mind that any frat boys could be openly gay. Not that he was ever even remotely one for Greek life, period, but still. Some of these guys’ straight buddies came with them on frat night, some out of solidarity and some out of some extreme–reverse machismo from what Denver could tell. Those ones were easy to spot, because they always ended