Page 73 of Knot A Chance

I smiled at him. “I love you, Bennett. I’ll love you when you’re old and gray. I’ll love you no matter what happens, for the rest of my life. You’re the only one for me.”

He grinned at me. “I love you too, Felix. Forever.”

“Can you take me home now?” I asked.

“Sure.” He pulled out onto the street. “I just need to stop at my place for clothes.”

“Oh,” I said, stomach dropping in disappointment.

“What?” He glanced at me quickly before turning back to the road.

“I kind of meant your place?” I said sheepishly.

His smile lit up his face. “Thought you said you had six weeks left on your lease?”

“I do, but if Benny’s going to be at your place, I want to be there with both of you.”

Bennett squeezed my knee. “I’ll take you home, Felix. We need to get some supplies for the pup and we can stop and feed Marley too.”

“That sounds perfect. Thank you.”

“Always, Felix. I’ll always give you whatever you need.”

I’m not sure why we’re pretending I don’t live here. I definitely live here.

When Bennett was at work each day, I went back to my apartment for a few hours before my shift so that Marley didn’t get lonely, but other than that, every minute not spent at work was spent at Bennett’s. Benny couldn’t spend a whole night alone yet, so sleeping at my apartment wasn’t an option, and sleeping apart from Bennett wasn’t something I wanted to do ever again if I could help it.

About a week after our visit to Crescent River, I had the evening off, and we planned to pick up Bennett’s truck, return Clara’s car, and then pick up Marley for the weekend so she could come with me and spend a few days getting used to Bennett’s house and the dog.

I’d spent the day at The White Fang helping Ally do inventory, so I walked to Bennett’s garage at five o’clock when he said he’d be finishing up for the day.

When I stepped into the garage, I was surprised to see someone sitting at the front desk. Usually when I came to visit Bennett at work, he was here by himself. I’d actually started to joke with Bennett that Calvin was just a figment of his imagination.

The guy behind the desk looked up and ran a hand over his dark, buzzed hair. “Dropping off or picking up?”

“Uh, neither,” I said, assuming that this was Calvin. “I’m here for Bennett.”

The guy looked me over and scratched at the dark stubble on his face. His olive skin was mostly hidden by a long sleeve shirt and jeans that looked far too nice to wear as a mechanic. Bennett usually came home with grease stains on everything.

“I’m Calvin. Who are you?” he finally said, pupils wide. He smelled like cleaning supplies, and the scent lit up familiar pathways in my brain.

Well, detailing isn’t the only thing Calvin sucks at, because his customer service certainly needs work, not to mention he’s high.

“I’m Felix. Bennett’s boyfriend.”

Calvin narrowed his eyes at me. “Right. Okay. He’s in the garage.” He pointed behind him with his thumb, and I walked through the back door that I normally used to get to Bennett.

“Hey, handsome,” Bennett said, his face lighting up when he laid eyes on me.

“Hey, babe, you almost done?” I asked.

Bennett sighed. “Yeah, I just need to finish this tire rotation. Should only be about ten minutes.”

“Okay,” I said, sitting on the floor next to Benny who was curled up in his “shop bed” as Bennett called it. Not to be confused with his “bedroom bed,” his “living room bed,” and his “truck bed”—which all looked exactly the same because Bennett had insisted on making sure that Benny was comfortable wherever he was.

It was hard to feel envious that Benny had taken to Bennett immediately when I was pretty sure Bennett was going to spoil this dog rotten. Benny rested his head in my lap, and I beamed at his ridiculously cute puppy eyes.

“You know I saved you, right?” I whispered, stoking the bridge of his nose.