Seth's Chance [Brac Pack 27] Read Free

that housed the washers and dryers. It was coin operated, and there were only two washers and two dryers, which worked when they wanted to.
He emptied Oscar’s sheets into the washer, sliding his coins into the tiny metal slot. Usually he had to wait until Oscar was asleep to come down here. There was no way he was bringing a six-year-old into Freddy Krueger’s hideout. That was exactly what this room reminded Seth of. He was waiting for a man in a red-and-dark-greenstriped shirt with metal claws to jump out at any moment.
Seth shivered.
He turned to leave and started when he saw Tyler standing in the doorway with a wicker laundry basket tucked under his arm. His smile was polite, boyish even, but Seth’s skin felt like bugs were crawling all over him. Maybe it was imagining Freddy, or maybe it was the fact that Tyler just weirded him out. Seth was teetering toward the latter. How could a man be sexy and creepy at the same time? It just didn’t make any sense.
His eyes were watching Seth as if he were a jaguar in a tree waiting to pounce. The lids of his eyes were slightly lowered, just watching. Seth hurried past him, but Tyler’s size blocked his way. The man was broad in the shoulders, and that width extended to his waist. Tyler wasn’t a small man. He looked like he used to play football in high school. He still had that body shape, and wore it well, but his quiet mannerism was too dark for Seth’s taste.
“Excuse me,” Seth said as he tried to go around.
“My apologies, Seth.” Tyler stepped aside, but Seth could feel the guy’s eyes burning a hole in his back as he escaped down the dismal hallway. He jogged up the steps, leaning his back against the wall when he got to the first floor. What was it about his new neighbor that scared the shit out of him? The man had done nothing wrong except be polite.
When he heard Tyler coming up from the basement, Seth hurried to his apartment. Thank goodness he lived on the first floor. It made his escape easier. He quickly closed the door behind him and walked briskly back into Oscar’s room.
Seth needed a moment to catch his breath.
“Laundry done?”
Seth caught himself before he jumped out of his skin. Chance was grinning at him in the doorway, but his smile slid from his face. He must have seen the flushed look on Seth’s face. “What’s wrong?”
Seth smiled, waving Chance’s question away like a pesky bug. “Is Oscar finished eating?”
Chance’s face clouded with something close to anger, and then it slipped away that quickly, the semianger leaking out and a smile beaming brightly in its place. “He’s finished.”
“I was going to clean until Oscar’s appointment, but if you have something else in mind…” Seth let the sentence trail off as he set the basket in the large closet and then closed the door. For a tiny onebedroom, the closet space in Oscar’s room was amazing. All of Oscar’s and Seth’s clothes fit in there with room to spare. Considering he didn’t have a bedroom, that was a godsend.
“Naw, I just wanted to hang around the two of you today. We can watch a movie or I can watch you clean.” The teasing tone made Seth smile. No matter what was going on in his life, Chance always seemed to make him smile.
Chance moved into the small bedroom. The air immediately was sucked from the room, leaving no oxygen for Seth to breathe. The guy was an impressive size already, but this close he seemed enormous standing next to Seth.
“There’s a new movie theater in town. It’s small, but we could go there.”
Seth had seen the new building on his side of town. The manager of his apartment building had told him that Maverick Brac was the mayor and was expanding the village. The red brick structure wasn’t as big as the ones in the city, but it was large enough to house four large screens to watch the movies. One of those screens even played 3-D movies. At least that was what the sign outside the movie theater boasted.
Maybe a day out with Oscar