Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

KYLEN

Kylen didn't have enough clients to pay his bills on private charters, but he had enough of them to make ends meet when he couldn't be on his normal flight schedule. And it was how he decided to occupy his Monday. One of his new clients, a man named Montez Oliveria, had booked him for a short flight to Cape Cod. He was requested to sit at the airfield and wait for an hour.

It wasn't the worst job, and it paid a decent amount—plus, he got to fly Montez's plane, which was one of the nicest ones he'd ever seen. The man had the luxuries of a billionaire but the humility of someone in public service, and Kylen didn't entirely understand him.

But he appreciated that Montez sat beside him in the cockpit and kept him company.

"You ever want to learn to fly?" Kylen asked when they were about an hour in.

Montez gave him a soft, pained smile. He looked very young, kind of windswept on purpose, with dimples in his cheeks and a very faint accent Kylen was pretty sure was French. "I know how to fly. But I can' t."

Kylen frowned. "You know there are a ton of accommodations for people these days. I went to flight school with a Deaf guy who owns a very successful business."

Montez's smile went a little sadder—a little smaller. "It's a neurological issue. I have seizures, and I faint. It's not safe. Stress makes it worse, and if I'm sitting here, even with a co-pilot, all I can think about is if I'm going to lose consciousness. It's better this way."

Kylen didn't know what to say to that. "So what do you do, then?"

Montez laughed. "I'm a lawyer. I do family law and things like that. Family business. I just passed the bar last year."

"I didn't know first year family lawyers could afford private jets," Kylen said, then slapped his hand over his mouth. "Sorry."

Montez threw his head back with his next laugh. "It's okay. We can't. It was a gift from my grandfather. He's not a lawyer."

The tone of that statement told Kylen not to ask, so he didn't. Instead, he adjusted himself back a little since most flying these days was done entirely by the plane. He was more an observer and button pusher. But he still loved it.

"I mostly do commercial flying," he said after a while. "I'm on leave right now because my grandmother fell and broke her hip, but it's a good job. Pays a lot more than I thought I'd ever be paid when I was growing up."

Montez gave him a curious look. "Not a lot of people take care of their grandparents these days."

Kylen shrugged. "She was always good to me when I was little. My parents love me but hate my choices."

"Like your choice to become a pilot? "

"Like my choice to come out of the closet," Kylen said, feeling bold.

"Ah." Montez nodded. "I know that very well. It took my family some time to come around. They're very Catholic."

"What does that mean?"

Montez scoffed. "It means it's perfectly acceptable for my father to bring home a woman six months older than his youngest son, but should I fall for even a good man, my soul will be condemned to purgatory."

"Well, it's not hell, so that's something?" Kylen offered.

Montez blinked, then threw his head back and laughed again. "I like you." Kylen started to grin, and then Montez said, "Would you care to have dinner with me?"

Under any normal circumstances, Kylen would have said yes. He would have said hell yes. Fuck yes. Let's do this. In fact, he could have said yes and then solved the problem with his daughter's very straight teacher pretending to be his boyfriend.

But saying yes felt almost like cheating. That was a problem Kylen would have to solve, but the truth was he wasn't ready to want anyone besides Dallas right then. As fucked as it was.

"Have I crossed a line?"

"No. No, no," Kylen said in a rush. "I think you're ridiculously good-looking, and I'd be lucky to have dinner with you."

"But?"

"I kind of have a thing," Kylen said. He didn't want to lie, but the truth was too absurd, so he muddled it all. "There's a guy…it's kind of weird, but I like him. It wouldn't be fair to you. "

Montez didn't look upset at all. "Thank you for telling me. He sounds like a lucky man."

He wasn't. Neither of them were in that moment. But Montez was kinder than most of Kylen's clients, and he very much deserved to be happy. "I hope you find a man who likes flying in this jet," Kylen said. "And one that really, really pisses off your family."

Montez grinned at him and settled back in his seat. "So do I. And I plan to keep looking."

Kylen groaned when his phone buzzed two hours after he got home and he saw his sister's name. He debated about not answering, but he was afraid it was something about his gran. So he answered. "This had better be good."

"Your boyfriend is on a date. Check your texts."

Before Kylen could respond to his sister, the line went dead, and then his phone buzzed a second later. He opened the text and found a photo of Dallas at a restaurant, very clearly laughing, leaning into the space of a very attractive, larger man wearing a dark blue T-shirt bearing the symbol of the city's fire department. He had his hand up, clearly in the middle of brushing Dallas's hair back.

For a moment, Kylen felt panic. Had Dallas lied about everything?

Not that Dallas really owed Kylen anything, but the pain was still real and very sharp. He breathed through it, then decided to nip this in the bud because he needed to respond to his sister, but he didn't want to go on the defense and have Dallas end things with him before they got started.

He was tired of looking like a fool .

He glanced over at Flora, who was engrossed in the documentary about penguins, and then he slipped out the back door and sat on the steps that led down to the grass. The air was breezy and smelled a little like the ocean, and he closed his eyes to bask before finally picking up his phone again and shooting off a text.

Kylen: Hey, are you free for a quick chat?

Dallas: I can be. I'm at dinner. Is it an emergency?

Kylen: I hate to say yes, but yes.

A beat passed, and then Kylen's screen lit up with Dallas's name. He waited a moment before answering, and he did his best to make sure his voice wasn't trembling in his chest.

"Hey. I'm sorry to interrupt."

"No, it's fine. I'm just out with Adele."

Adele. Was he going to try and pass the guy off as a woman to cover his ass?

"Oh?"

"Sorry, I forgot you don't know the other guys. He's the one who started the single dad group I'm in." Dallas sounded calm and relaxed, which was very different from their pseudo-date, and Kylen's heart stopped beating so rapidly when he heard Dallas start to explain. "I've been going through it lately, so he dragged me out. I've also had a couple drinks, so if I sound loopy, that's why."

Kylen couldn't help a small laugh. "Ah. Well, I just want you to know my sister's at the same restaurant, and she texted me a photo of my cheating boyfriend. "

"Oh my God! I would never cheat on you! Who would cheat on you?"

Kylen's face burned at the utter sincerity in Dallas's tone. "I'm sure some people might. Not you, obviously," he joked.

Dallas took him seriously. "Never in my life. You're so pretty, Ky."

Ky ? Fuck.

"I can be a little, you know, kind of, like, slow to catch on to some things? Does that make sense? Like there's this big thing in front of me, and it's been sitting there forever, and I don't even see it? What's that phrase? Can't see the forest in all the moss?"

"Forest for the trees," Kylen corrected absently, trying to follow what Dallas was saying.

"God. I'm drunk."

"Yeah, honey. You are," Kylen said with a laugh. "Anyway, I wanted to let you know that if you are on a date?—"

"No. It's just Adele. I love him. I mean, everyone loves him. Of course I love him. But not like that. Not like—" He stopped abruptly, and Kylen wanted to beg him to continue. "Want me to break up with him?"

"Honey, you're not dating either of us for real."

Dallas was very quiet. "Oh. Yeah."

There was no way he sounded disappointed. Was there?

"I don't think my sister will do anything, but if she confronts you, tell her we've already talked. Show her the call log, okay?"

"Call…yeah. Call thingie. I miss you. Can I see you soon?"

Kylen squeezed his eyes shut. "We have a date soon, right?"

"Yeah," Dallas breathed out. "How was flying?"

Kylen was going to get whiplash from the man's drunken subject changes, as much as he loved it. "It was nice. I got asked out."

"By whom?" Dallas's voice was a growl, and it did things to Kylen.

"The guy who hired me. Don't worry, I told him no. But if you know any really hot older guys who'd be into an attractive man with an accent…"

"Not you," Dallas hissed.

Kylen burst into laughter. "No, honey. Not me. Older guys."

"My brother," Dallas mused, sounding sleepy all of a sudden. "Mm. Bronx. Got a kid though. Great kid. My nephew is awesome. Bronx is older than me. And he has more grey hair. Does that count?"

"You sound like maybe y'all should head home soon," Kylen said.

"Y'all," Dallas said with a laugh. "I like how that sounds when you say it."

"Good. I'll use it again. Get Adele to take you home. Have some water and ibuprofen, and get some sleep. You don't have Audra, right?"

"Katie stole her." Dallas sniffed, and then Kylen heard a muffled noise. "I want to go home."

"Oh, honey. Go talk to Adele."

"Yeah, but…can you tell me a joke?"

Kylen blinked, then snorted. "Sure thing." He put it on speaker, then scrolled through his email for one he hadn't sent Dallas yet. He cleared his throat. "What did the carpenter say when he finished building a house?"

"Um…"

"Nailed it!"

The silence was profound and lasted so long Kylen's face began to burn. Then, there was a cough before Dallas burst into loud laughter.

"So not funny!"

"And yet, you can't stop laughing. Now, get home and behave. You're a teacher, for fuck's sake."

"Turn your card to red for potty language," Dallas said. "See you soon."

The line went silent again, and Kylen collapsed backward, his head thudding against the deck boards. What the hell was all that, and why? Why couldn't the universe provide him with a man he didn't want with every fiber of his being?

Why was he being tortured with a man he could never have?

Kylen hated to admit it, but he was going to miss having his sister around. Grace was an epic pain in his ass, and her low-key homophobia wasn't something he wanted around his daughter, but she was a help. She respected his wishes not to talk about that kind of stuff in front of his daughter, and she was good with Flora.

It made him wonder if he really was fucking this single-parent thing up in epic ways. Flora seemed well-adjusted, but Kylen's support system was small, and the stress was getting to him. He never would have been able to pull off the farce with Dallas. He loved his daughter, but she couldn't keep a secret to save his life. And he would not survive humiliation in front of his family.

"Meeting the cheater?" Grace asked as he grabbed his keys.

Kylen gave her a flat look. "The guy's name is Adele, and he and Dallas are not sleeping together. They're in a single dad group, which he was part of before I met him."

"That sounds," Grace said, then cupped her hand around her lips and mouthed, ‘like a sex thing.'

Kylen rolled his eyes. "Your garbage views are the reason good men like Dallas get treated like crap."

Grace rolled her eyes and turned away from him, so Kylen took the opportunity to slip out the door and head over to Dallas's place. It wasn't far from where he lived, which shouldn't have given him ideas, but God, it did.

Apart from Dallas's drunken ramblings the week before, he had no proof that the man wasn't anything but straight and a good sport. In fact, Dallas had been a little weird with him all week. He returned Kylen's dad joke texts with laughing emojis, but he didn't strike up conversation, and when Kylen attempted it, he got short answers.

Kylen took the hint and stopped, so when Dallas asked him to meet that weekend, he was a little surprised. He pulled up to the house and told himself he wouldn't react with anything other than kindness if Dallas decided to call this off.

He planned to stick to that too. He'd fall apart in private and hope that they could at least be friends. He still had Frey's invite to the dad group, so at least he could socialize with people who understood what it was like having a kid.

He'd get over his crush eventually. He had to.

Walking up to the door, he knocked softly, and a moment later, Dallas appeared with a sleeping baby on his shoulder. Kylen had known him a while, but it was the first time he'd ever seen Audra in person. His entire body softened at the sight of the larger man cradling something so small .

"Sorry," Dallas whispered. "She just went down. I was about to put her in her crib."

Kylen nodded and crept inside the dim room. All the shades were drawn, so he carefully made his way around baby toys to sit on the long, plush couch. There were indents on each of the cushions that told Kylen that Dallas slept there quite a few nights.

His heart hurt for the man. He'd gone through plenty of phases where his bed was just too big and too empty, and he felt loneliness scratching at every pore. He knew Dallas had been divorced for a while now, but that didn't mean the man wasn't still grieving the loss. Which was another reason Kylen had to pull it together and stop looking for signs the man was into him.

Dallas appeared a few moments later with a small smile. He leaned over the small side table, and Kylen heard the familiar sounds of a baby monitor switching on. "Okay. We should be good for about an hour and a half."

"Really?" Kylen couldn't help it. Flora had been the worst sleeper. Hell, she still was. He'd long since forgotten what solid sleep felt like.

Dallas chuckled softly and shrugged. "I got lucky. It probably won't last." Then his face fell, and he let out a trembling breath, glancing away. "Do you mind if we not talk baby stuff?"

"Of course, but…is everything okay? Is Audra okay?"

At that, Dallas smiled as he looked back over. "She's amazing. You know, I really didn't think I wanted to do this whole dad thing. When my ex took off and refused to let me be part of anything in the beginning, my brother asked me if it was the universe giving me a gift."

Kylen understood that. He'd been faced with that choice when Dani said she was pregnant. Except Kylen had always wanted to be a dad, so there wasn't an actual decision to be made. But plenty of his friends berated him for not taking the out when she'd given him one.

"The moment I looked at that weird little alien on the ultrasound scan, I was in love with her," Dallas said quietly. "And Katie knows that. She's using it to hurt me right now, and I'm…" He trailed off and shook his head. "It's a whole thing involving an attorney that I can't afford and a fight I don't know if I have the energy for."

Kylen reached for him, unable to stop himself. He linked his fingers over Dallas's and smiled when Dallas squeezed back instead of pulling away. "How can I help? I don't have a lot of money, but I have some, and?—"

"No," Dallas said quickly. "My friends are helping me take care of the cost, and the guy I'm seeing has decided to reduce his fee dramatically. Decent dude," Dallas added with a small smile. "He's new in town, so I'm only his second client, but he seems like the kind of guy who won't take shit."

"The best kind of lawyer," Kylen said, not that he had any experience, but it made him think of Montez because he seemed like that kind of guy. He had half a mind to mention him, but what if Dallas wasn't straight? What if Montez charmed him the way he'd attempted to charm Kylen on the plane?

And what if Dallas said yes?

He swallowed heavily, then stroked his fingers over the tops of Dallas's before pulling away. "So. You wanna talk about how we met and fell in love?"

Dallas made a soft choking noise, then cleared his throat. "I…had an idea."

"Yeah?"

Dallas nodded. "I was on a plane. "

Kylen's brows shot up.

"I was really scared, and this gorgeous guy ended up sitting next to me. He could see I was anxious, so he told me terrible dad jokes to calm me down. I…I was pretty sure it was love at first sight. He almost got away from me when we disembarked," Dallas went on.

Kylen's heart was thudding so fast, so loud, he could barely hear Dallas speaking.

"He was a pilot, so he stopped to chat with some friends, and I had to leave. He caught up to me at baggage claim though. And he…he kissed me. Then gave me his number."

Kylen felt something warm against his hand, and he realized Dallas had reached back for him. Their palms were pressing together, soft and very present. The back of his throat felt a little hot, and he took a slow breath before speaking. "The rest was history?"

"The rest was the beginning. And when it ends, he's definitely going to break my heart."