Dirty Laundry: A Tucker Springs Novel #3

wanted Adam there for a while.
    He had no idea what any of this meant. And he was determined not to think about it.
    Adam bit his bottom lip, then nodded slowly. “Okay. But I’ll take a cab home.”
    The hell he would. But Denver didn’t feel like arguing that right now, so he just smiled and pointed to Adam’s plate. “Finish up, then, and we’ll head out.”

    It was dumb, he knew, but Adam was nervous all the way over to his apartment to change clothes, though Denver had made it clear he was staying in the car. Still, he had himself ramped up to a frenzy, which was why when Denver spoke, he didn’t hear him at all and had to ask him to repeat himself.
    With more patience than Adam deserved, Denver said, “Bring out the things you need washed for tomorrow. We’ll run them in the bar machine while you’re drinking.”
    Okay, so he had heard him, but Denver wasn’t making any sense. “What? You can’t do that.”
    Denver leaned over the console between the seats and looked Adam in the eye. “Get your clothes you need washed and get dressed for a night out. I’ll get a hold of El while you’re gone.”
    He turned back to the steering wheel, fishing his phone out of his pocket and punching in a text, pretty much ignoring Adam. With not much else left to do, Adam got out of the car and walked, somewhat dazed, into his apartment building.
    That Denver hadn’t asked to come in had thrown him. He’d been going back and forth about whether or not he should let him into his apartment, telling himself he should get over his idiocy and just be human for a change. It wasn’t like Denver was going to jump him, and if he did, it’d be in a way Adam wholly approved of. The idea of Denver not asking to come in, though, was weird. Good, he was pretty sure, but off-putting.
    He obsessed over Denver staying in the car the whole time he showered and changed clothes. What did it mean? Was it because of what he’d said about not liking to take guys home? How had Denver known it was because Adam couldn’t stand to have people in the house, period? He knew it wasn’t normal because the guys had given him such shit about it. There’d been plenty of fights over his freak-outs when he came home and a girlfriend was sitting on the couch unattended.
    Maybe Denver didn’t know he’d planned to take a shower and had thought Adam would be just a few minutes. He began to move in double time, as much as his neuroses would allow.
    On his third pass through the apartment to make sure all his appliances were off, everything unplugged, he spied his laundry hamper in the corner. It was overflowing, which was upsetting enough, but this time as he glanced at it, he imagined going out to the car without a plastic sack full of clothes to wash at the bar laundry. He’d been so fixated on bar laundry he hadn’t allowed himself to consider anything but ignoring Denver’s command outright, but this time he faced the reality of going out to Denver’s truck without them. He tried to imagine what would happen if Denver didn’t see a bag of clothes to wash.
    Five minutes later he emerged, plastic bag full of underwear, socks, and a T-shirt he could stomach being washed with whites in hand. The look on Denver’s face as he lifted his head from his cell phone—gaze going right to that bag—told Adam he’d been right to bring the clothes.
    “You really don’t have to wash them,” he said as he got in the car. Images of dirty, filthy basements and scum-stained laundry machines swam in his head.
    “I know. But I want to. Jase won’t mind. I’ve done it before, and I’ll just tell him it’s my stuff.” He glanced at Adam, a whisper of a smile at his lips. “You nervous about me handling your underwear?”
    Well, now that he brought it up, that wasn’t his favorite thing either. He should have gone with that, but he was nervous about the evening, nervous about getting drunk with strangers, nervous about why Denver hadn’t tried to come into his apartment, and so he told the truth. “Actually—I hope you’re not mad—I’m kind of one of those neat freaks. I know it sounds dumb, but is it a clean machine? In a clean area?”
    “Cleaner than that damn laundromat we met in. Jase is pretty much a stickler for cleanliness in general.”
    “Okay.” He cast a quick glance at Denver, relieved but still a little wary. “Thanks.”
    “Not a problem.” He shifted his grip on the steering wheel, keeping his eyes on the road.