Page 32 of Nicks and Cuts

He also wasn’t going to miss sleeping next to Dante when he moved out into some bland house, which he’d have all to himself, and buy furniture that he liked and spend his free time doing whatever he wanted.

They were the things he’d been looking forward to; now they seemed like shallow knee-jerk reactions to always caving to what someone else wanted.

He washed out his lunch tub and tossed it in his locker.

Maybe all he’d been looking for was peace and stability, and he’d already found that, which was why he was reluctant to make another change. It had taken a couple of months, but it felt as though he’d finally started breathing instead of being on alert for the next thing.

He was adapting to the slower pace of life and was pretty sure that the stress of going back would kill him. He’d been burning out without noticing, both from his relationship at the time and the job. Maybe if he’d only had to deal with one, he would have coped.

Maybe, but it didn’t matter now.

He was here, and since this was his life, he needed to figure out how to make it work. For the first time, he began to wonder if he could wait for Dante, or if he was spinning his wheels waiting to get hurt? He had no idea because it mostly felt like the kind of relationship that he wanted, except that it wasn’t a relationship.

This is what happened when he bounced from one dick to another. What he needed to do was move out and clear his head, and bed, even if that was the exact opposite of what he thought he wanted.

That was a decision. He’d make the effort to look at more rentals and take anything within his budget that had room to park all his vehicles and the fish trailer—he was not giving that up until he was settled.

CHAPTER

EIGHTEEN

Despite his hesitations about joining the class, Shannon was interested in stepping into Dante’s world and seeing what he was like around other people. He put on his worst jeans, books, and long-sleeved shirt as per Dante’s instructions.

By the time he was dressed and had finished his coffee, Dante was already in the workshop setting up.

“Do you need me to do anything?” Shannon asked when he stepped in. Usually, he saw it when Dante was cleaning up, not when he was sitting up.

There were clearly six workstations set up on the benches, and Dante was pulling out bits of metal and wood and setting them on a different table where there were some finished chopping boards and cheese knives on display.

He knew from previous experience with craft projects that his would look nothing like that. Dante’s looked like something he’d find in a high-end home store, where they over-charged and paid as little as possible for the item.

“Nope, just pick a seat or decide what kind of wood or shape you’d like.” Dante held up a triangle of wood. “This is one of my favorites; it polishes up beautifully, but I think the shape makes people panic. They want round or square.”

“Is it hard to round off the corners?”

“No, and what most people don’t realize is that a triangle is very forgiving because each one of the corners can be different, and you can just say it’s meant to be that way.”

“Sold. Half-assed creativity is what I’m good at.” He held out his hand as Dante passed him the triangle of wood.

“If you want the knife to match, you’re going to need this.” Dante handed him a much smaller piece of wood. “Then you choose a piece of metal.”

“Is there a trick to choosing?”

“No, the trick is you have to heat it up and hammer it out.”

“So thinner is better?”

“Not always.”

Shannon considered the options and went for something in the middle before taking a seat at the end. That way, if people turned up with friends, he wouldn’t be in their way.

“Is this usually a popular class?”

“Yes. There’s a spot because someone got sick. It’s also that class that gives people a taste, and then they come back for more.”

“Where is the safety gear?”

Dante smiled. “You will get that when I give the safety lecture after everyone arrives.”