Page 20 of Inevitable
“How long have I been here?”
Bas squinted his eyes as if doing mental calculations. “I ran into you on Monday night and brought you here. You were asleep most of yesterday, and now it’s Wednesday, so you’ve been here two nights.”
Ezra swallowed and licked his dry lips as he straightened himself and got up. “I have to get out of your hair,” he said. “One night was bad enough, but two… I’ll get my shit, and I’ll be out of here.”
Standing up so abruptly made Ezra’s head spin, so he grabbed onto the edge of the counter until the dizziness eased off.
Bas had hurried toward Ezra when he’d started swaying.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Bas pushed Ezra back down on the barstool. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“I can’t stay here,” Ezra rasped.
Bas crossed his arms over his chest as he stared at Ezra. “Why the hell not?”
“I don’t live here. You can’t just take in a complete stranger and let him stay in your home like that.”
“I think we’re well past the stage of strangers,” Bas commented dryly.
“Yeah,” Ezra said, voice thick with sarcasm. “Sleeping with somebody you’re in love with makes us practically brothers.”
“I wouldn’t mix siblings and sex talk. It’s bound to get awkward.”
Ezra stared at Bas. “You’re unbelievable.”
“I think so, too. See? We’re already bonding.”
“It wasn’t a compliment,” Ezra gritted out. “What if I stole your family jewels or something?”
“You wouldn’t. Drew likes you,” Bas said as if that was the greatest testament to a person’s character, and maybe it was, except for a slight problem.
“Drew has seen me a whopping two times in his life, one of which was a five-minute encounter. For all he knows, I might have a secret Cabbage Patch doll collection at home that I treat as target practice for when I get a hankering for murder!”
Bas’s lips twitched. “Nice try. You do not.”
“How the hell can you be sure?” Ezra challenged.
“Well”—Bas took a step closer—“unless you’ve stuffed all your dolls into that single duffel of yours, you can’t have a houseful of creepy dolls because you don’t have a home, do you?” The last words were said gently, but the impact of them still felt like it stole the breath out of Ezra’s lungs.
Humiliation warred with the need to lash out and hit something.
“Okay. I went too far,” Bas said quickly. “I tend to do that. Let’s rewind.”
The suggestion was so ridiculous that even the violent beast inside Ezra’s chest was taken aback by the absurdity.
“You can’t rewind life.” He couldn’t believe he had to spell that out.
“Not literally, but we can definitely pause and reassess.”
“You’re crazy,” Ezra said faintly.
Bas smirked. “Oh, how the tables have turned. Not so worried about my safety anymore, are we? Don’t worry, the guest room door locks.”
“It doesn’t count if I’m the only one worried about both of our safety,” Ezra grumbled. “This is the most idiotic conversation I’ve ever had.”
Bas laughed and threw his arm over Ezra’s shoulder. Somehow, and Ezra had no clue how, Bas managed to seamlessly lead him to the couch, push him to a sitting position, cover him with a soft, gray throw blanket, and put on a movie.
“Give me some credit here,” Bas said as he stretched out on the opposite end of the couch, wiggling his toes. “This situation is weird for me, too, so I think I’m doing pretty well, all things considered.”